


Things Falling Apart

by AliceoftheIsles



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans Go!
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hope, Hurt, trama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-07 22:04:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 32,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18882160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceoftheIsles/pseuds/AliceoftheIsles
Summary: Robin has been pre-occupied with a highly secretive case involving a dangerous new criminal.  Afraid of the consequences of involving the other Titans, especially Raven, he has kept the case from them.  But what if the price for secrecy comes at the expense of everything he holds dear?  Could this be the beginning of a new special relationship with Raven, or will this be the end of the Teen Titans?





	1. Chapter 1

It was raining again. A sudden flash of lightning arched across the sky, the roar of thunder not far behind. A harsh wind blew in from the west, bringing the sting of the salty sea air with it. Darkness had befallen the city hours ago, and the docks were immersed in its bleakness, with only the occasional yellow glow of a streetlight or two seemingly floating in the empty void. He had been waiting since before the darkness had settled over this place, muscles aching and strained with his self-imposed inactivity, and exhaustion hovering at the back of his mind like a coming storm of its very own. 

And yet he waited, unmoving still; a strong, stoic sense of purpose the only thing driving him on. It was a game of cat and mouse; a game he knew all to well. The people he was dealing with were good. Very good. He knew that this place was being watched all day, by an unseen sentinel. He was never able to see them, but he knew they were there, watching. Watching and waiting. He really didn’t know how he knew, per say, other than to say that it was a gut feeling. And after years of training and working with the Bat-family, trusting his gut was one of the most important lessons he had learned long ago.

Robin had found shelter for his observations at the top of an old, dilapidated warehouse. Massive beams ran along the ceiling, offering support for the heavy metal roof. Though the structure still stood tall, parts of the aging building had rusted away, leaving sizable holes along its walls and roof. So it was here, along one of the supporting beams, looking out of one of the sizable holes of the warehouse where he lay in wait, silently observing. It was the best place he had found for observing the docks, his mind reasoned. 

True, there were better vantage points, like one of the many towering cranes which dotted the docks, but these positions were far too obvious, and the unseen sentinel would have known to pay attention to these roosts. No, it had to be one of the warehouses overlooking the docks. Admittedly the unseen sentinel would also have known to keep an eye on these as well, but Robin reasoned that the sentinel couldn’t risk moving from their own hidden observation point and risk revealing themselves. Robin also deduced that the sentinel would be working alone, just as he was, and for much the same reason.

Security details, no matter how small, and no matter how covert, would still be detected by anyone with half decent observational skills and the time to surveil this place. It would have been in the mannerisms of any such detail; the fact that the same, or relatively similar group of individuals would linger there, hovering about the place without venturing out too far. Even if they tried to blend in with a crowd, there never was much of a crowd by the docks these days, do any such grouping would have been less than conspicuous. 

Also, when on guard, an individual had to maintain some semblance of alertness and observation of their surroundings in order to maintain a level of situational awareness; and no matter how hard an individual tried to disguise his vigilance, it would have been deductible to anyone with the time and observational skills of their own to pick up on it. Again, the unseen sentinel would have known that as well, hence Robin’s deduction that his unseen opponent would likely also be alone.

The problem for Robin lay in infiltrating the scene undetected himself. He couldn’t do so at night, as again, that would have been too obvious, and somehow he knew that his unseen opponent would be more vigilant under cover of darkness. And paranoia prevented Robin from attempting to infiltrate during the day as well, for fear of the unknown relating to his opponent. He simply could never be sure that his opponent would have seen him or not. No, the solution lay in being seen, by allowing his unseen opponent to observe and detect him. He knew that by doing so, he presented himself as less a threat then a knew he actually was.

The trick lay in hiding in plane sight. Earlier that morning, he literally walked into the scene, and made no attempt to hide his presence. His clothes were carefully chosen for their lack of any distinguishing characteristics. Upon his back, he wore a backpack which held all his gear and his uniform, but he gambled in this being plain and undistinguishable enough to stand up to scrutiny. This also meant that he was unmasked, literally. He made no attempt to hide or disguise his face for fear of his unseen opponent picking up on this. That had meant no masks, make-up or wigs; just his own natural face out in the open, for all to see. It was a risk, he knew, but he gambled on no one knowing who Richard Greyson was, or what he looked like.

Once he had made a point to be seen, he just as inconspicuously made his way around the warehouses, slowly and I carefully through them. Sometimes lingering in one, other times quickly moving through another. He made it a point to be seen outside the warehouses, holding up an item or two, in order to grow the illusion that he was scavenging through the warehouses. Slowly he weaved his way through the warehouses, moving from the ones away from the docks to the nearest one. He had to gamble on the nature of his appearance and activities being inconspicuous enough to allow him to blend seamlessly with the few people who loitered here during the day that his unseen opponent would not have noticed the fact that he never left. Once he was there, he quietly switched over to his uniform and found his observation point. And there he lay, unmoving in the shadows for the remainder of the day.

Robin knew that all this work, the observations, the deducing, the paranoia would have been found boring to virtually anyone else. But that was what separated him from the other Titans, an inherited skill from a former mentor who was as cold and uncaring as he was afraid he might become himself. Robin reasoned with himself as to why he was undertaking all this in his own; because the other Titans would have found this kind of work boring, and that none of them hardly qualified as ‘inconspicuous’. No, he alone was capable of this undertaking. But somewhere in his subconscious mind, Robin knew that he was lying to himself. 

The real reason he had kept this case from the other Titans was due to the highly sensitive and extremely dangerous nature of it. Several months earlier, Brother Blood was found murdered. This would have been interesting enough on its own, and this much the other Titans were aware of. Of course there was no love lost between the group and Brother Blood’s cult, so it wasn’t anything to lose sleep over. No, the problem lay with what he had kept from the other Titans. Brother Blood was not only murdered; he had been betrayed and sacrificed to Trigon; and the new Brother Blood seemed to be focusing in one Titan in particular. But this was not long after the showdown with Trigon himself, and Raven was still reeling from that fateful encounter.

Raven. She was never the same after that. She had been extremely moody and agitated after then, and it only seemed to have grown worse over time. She was lashing out at the other Titans with more frequency and veracity and Robin could feel a wall going up between herself and the rest of the team. Increasingly they were avoiding and excluding her from the Team’s activities, and it had even reached a point where Raven started missing some of their more recent missions.

But Robin shared a special link to the girl, and though she would deny it, Robin could feel it emanating from her; Raven was spiraling deeper into the throngs of depression. She was hurting in a way he could feel but couldn’t understand, and she was lashing out. That was why Robin kept this case to himself. Because he couldn’t risk losing her, and he didn’t trust the other Titans to keep something this big and important from her.

That was why Robin was there at the docks that night. Robin had been keeping his ear to the ground for weeks, and a rumor had been quietly spreading through the criminal underground that Brother Blood was expecting something important to be brought to him. Nobody seemed to know what it was, but it seemed to be immensely important to Brother Blood. As best as Robin had been able to deduce, this shipment was to arrive at these docks this night. So Robin watched and waited. It seemed his hard work and vigilance paid of with dividends, as at the moment two black SUVs pulled up to the docks. Then from the shadows came his unseen opponent; Rose Wilson, AKA Ravager. He might have known. So all his precautions and paranoia were justified after all, as in her arms she held an M-40A5 sniper rifle. 

As Ravager walked up to the lead SUV, Robin idly wondered how many times earlier in the day Ravager had trained the scope of that rifle on him before he found his observation point. The driver’s side window rolled down, and Ravager shared a few words with the driver. Before long, their conversation seemed to have ended as she stepped back from the SUV. Just then, a speedboat pulled up to the dock, having seemingly come from out of nowhere. Once the boat was tethered to the dock, the boat’s inhabitants climbed onto the dock, just as the inhabitants of the SUV exited the vehicle. There were 13 of them in all; five from the lead SUV, seven from the boat, and Ravager. Through his binoculars Robin could better see the make-up of the group. Of the crowd from the SUV, four of them were indistinguishable. Just armed thugs dressed in all black tactical gear. The quickly set up defensive positions, with two of them facing the crow from the boat, and two facing behind the group and staining off into the darkness. 

The remaining figure was cloaked in a dark robe with the hood up, and somehow Robin knew this to be Brother Blood himself. Interesting, Robin thought. He hadn’t expected Brother Blood to personally make an appearance, so whatever this was, it must have been important. As Brother Blood approached the group from the boat, Ravager at his heels, Robin turned his binoculars to this second group. Of the seven of them, five wore robes similar to that of Brother Blood’s. Strange, Robin thought. The sixth member of this group seemed out of place. She was a petite girl, how seemed to be of at least partial Asian ancestry, and she couldn’t have been any older then Robin himself. She wielded a katana and was dressed in a uniform which seemed vaguely familiar to him. As he tried to place it, Robin turned his binoculars to the seventh man, and all at once his heart sank to the deepest levels of his chest. A chill overcame him, and he felt a deep seated sense of dread come on. The seventh man in the group was Ra’s Al Ghul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys and gals; I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Also bear in mind that I typed this on a smart phone, so if something doesn’t make sense, the auto-correct feature probably kicked in without me noticing. Just alert me about it and I’ll fix it. Thanx!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Ra’s Al Ghul. An individual whom Robin hadn’t seen in years. Of course, he was under no delusions. He knew that the Demon’s Head hadn’t faded away over the years, he’d simply went further to the ground and disappeared deeper into the shadows. Suddenly Robin found himself grow greatly concerned as to why the Demon’s Head would wish to resurface then and there. Robin also few all too keenly aware of the fact the he had also gravely underestimated the situation as well. Suddenly he found himself well outside the scope of a lone case, or even the Teen Titans. With the sudden and unexpected entry of this greatly feared villain, Robin understood that this suddenly became concerning enough to warrant involving his former mentor, or God forbid even the Justice League itself; because with Ra’s Al Ghul, Robin was no longer dealing with small fish or local nuisances, because Ra’s Al Ghul played on the global scale.

But these were thoughts for another time. In the meantime, he strongly felt he needed to close the gap between himself and the group on the docks, so that he could be better able to ascertain the importance of what was being said. He assessed the risk to be minimal; Ravager was no longer fulfilling her guardian angel role, and the guards who’d taken over the watch position he felt were nowhere as equal to the task as was Ravager. He could sense this just by observing them. They seemed to be staining out into the bleak darkness at nowhere in particular, and their relaxed posture, coupled with the unprofessional manner in which they handled their weapons told him they were merely there as a showing of force. 

One of them even lit up a cigarette, further demonstrating their lapsing of more typical security protocol. Then, of course, was their complete lack of night fighting gear; there wasn’t a piece of night vision or IR equipment amongst the group. It was almost too easy, he thought as he slowly climbed down from his perch within the warehouse and quietly made his was over to the dock, using several loose crates as cover. Ever mindful of his situation, Robin elected to go under the docks rather than risk trying to interweave himself amongst the few loose crate found on the dock itself.

He reminded himself that this was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance/surveillance mission and quickly reminded himself of his intent to avoid any sort of confrontation. He thought the group over in his mind. The four tactically dressed goons wouldn’t stand a chance. Ravager and the League of Assassins agent guarding Ra’s Al Ghul would present a challenge each on their own; but together would require his full attention. 

Of course, the Demon’s Head himself was no light weight either, but this new Brother Blood, and the five others sharing his choice of cult robes were unknown elements in this whole equation. No matter how he looked at it, dealing with the entirety of the group would also be a group effort. No, no fighting tonight; just gather all pertinent information and withdraw to reflect upon it. Still, it was better to be prepared for any eventuality, so as he closed in with the docks, he quickly assessed possible routes of egress. 

Should he be detected, should he attempt to flee out to sea? Doubtful; too many of them were too heavily armed, and he knew Ravager to be an excellent shot. Not only that, but the goons looked to be armed G-36 assault rifles. Not commercially available in the United States, likely acquired through the black market, and likely fully automatic. His chances of dodging several sources were slim, even more so while in the water, and there was only so much damage his built-in body armor could absorb. Not only that, they also had a boat to run him down with. 

No, not by sea. By air? He could use his grappling equipment to make his way atop one of the nearby cranes and go from there. But again, the assault rifles. His chances of getting hit were too high. Not by air. What were his land options. Moving straight away from the docks was too open and wasn’t a viable option. 

Moving back the way he was then traveling was too risky. There were only crates to shield him, and once his opponents moved out into the street, it was again too open. But on the other side of the dock was a boathouse and some floating barges, some fully loaded, some not. At that moment, it looked to be his only point of egress. It was less then ideal, as he’d normally like to have more than one egress option, at that moment, it was all he had. That would have to work. 

Of course, if things did go south, he’d need to create obstacles between himself and his adversaries in order to increase his chances of getting clear. So slowly, he made his way under the closest end of the dock, and quietly as he could, rigged small explosives to the support columns. Moving further on, he then rigged the boathouse support structures as well. He thought of planting further explosives, but decided against it; in the event that they weren’t all used, he didn’t want to leave any behind to cause collateral damage after the fact. 

With that task finished, he slowly made his way back under the dock and moved along under it until he came up to where the clandestine meeting was being held. Once there, he made his was over to one side of the dock and used one of the crates there to hide his head and upper torso behind. And he listened in. Slowly, he removed a small tactical camera from his gear and held it up to the corner, watching the video feed through a feed in his mask. By that time, the five hides figures who’d accompanied Ra’s Al Ghul had moved over to flank Brother Blood and were now facing the Demon’s Head. It was Ra’s himself who broke the brief silence.

“Cassandra” He said to the petite girl at his side. Even though she was so physically small and less than imposing, there was a certain aura behind her blank eyes and stoic stair which warned of the dangers of crossing her. At hearing her name, she quietly, but with purposeful intent made her way over to Brother Blood, a small pelican case at her side. Once she stood before him, she lifted the case up and held it in front of her. At this, the dark, cloaked figure of the cult leader lifted his hands and opened the case, then examining its contents. Seemingly pleased with what he found there, he closed the case and took it from the girl. The case then removed from her hands, she slowly made her way back to the side of the Demon’s Head, walking backwards and never blinking the whole way. It was Brother Blood who spoke next.

“After all the trouble of obtaining this, I’m surprised you’re not charging me anything for your services, Ra’s” he said, mistrust heavy in his words.

“This is because you can offer me nothing which I do not already possess. So long as you’re capable of achieving what you claim…” the Demon’s Head finished, letting his words trail off. He knew better then to say too much out in the open, paranoia having worked it’s way into his own mind, just as it had the Bat-family, all the way to Robin himself.

“The sooner the better in fact, as I suspect that our best laden plans are soon to be revealed.” Said Brother Blood. That seemed to have alarmed the Demon’s Head, and Robin alike.

“What are you playing at!?” Ra’s Al Ghul was quick to ask, his body already seeming to make itself for a possible betrayal. The girl he called Cassandra chose to draw her sword and assumed a combat stance in that moment. But Brother Blood merely laughed off the growing tension in the air.

“I’ve no mind to betray the great Demon’s Head; but we are being watched. Isn’t that right, little Robin.” Brother Blood answered. Even as he said this his hooded face turned slightly to face Robin, and even though Robin couldn’t see his eyes under the hood, he swore he could feel his icy cold gaze settle on himself, even through his camera feed.

It was as if time stood still, even for the briefest of moments. Robin felt his breathing seize, his chest constrict as though he held the whole weight of the situation upon his chest! His muscles tightened and his throat went dry. How!? He thought. How had he been detected!? BANG! His thoughts quickly shifted into alarm as the forearm of his arm holding the camera suddenly exploded in a horrific pulse of meat and bone. A 7.62 x 51mm NATO round had just passed completely through the crate he was hiding behind and through his forearm, shattering the radius in his right arm and effectively rendering his right hand immobile. Likely an armor piercing round, to be able to punch through so much mass, he thought. With the sudden force of the shot from Ravager’s rifle, he dropped the camera, and the camera feed to his left eye went dark, partially blinding him. At the same time, he lost his grip on the dock’s side and plunged into the chilled waters below. 

Then came the hail of follow-up gunfire. Fortunately he had fallen far enough under the dock that none of the rounds made contact with him. He started swimming, but he found that his right arm radiated a terrible, splitting sort of pain that radiated into the right side of his body. Reeling, he pulled is right arm to his side and started swimming as quickly as he could towards the boathouse, using only his left arm as he kicked with his legs as frantically as he could. Well shot, he thought to himself all the while; what kinda fucked up situation did I get myself into this time!? His instinct switching only to survival at that point, he quickly strong armed himself up a rope which hung from the far side of the boathouse, being forced to use only his left arm to complete the endeavor. 

He had barely made his way to the walkway surrounding the boathouse when, as suddenly as he could blink an eye, he found himself flying through the window and landing hard upon the floor inside the boathouse, shattered glass landing all about him. The pain of too many new cuts from the glass, some worse than others, barely registering in his mind as he looked back through the window. His mind seemed to freeze once more as the girl called Cassandra came flying through the window after him. Her katana was raised, and she held the clear intent of murder in her cruel eyes. He returned her deathly glare, barely moving himself all the while. With his mind slowing down and the adrenaline starting to fully kick in, he held himself still until, gathering his mind and his breath, until just the right moment. It was her lower abdomen. 

That’s where he zeroed in on. There was a gap in her own body armor right at this point. He had only a fraction of a second to react. He knew he couldn’t use his right arm, and there was little he could do with his left arm on its own. Instead, he suddenly shot his feet out, the toes of his steel plated boots first. Immediately he could feel the girl close in on herself at the sudden pain of the contact, but Robin wasn’t finished. Even as his boots dig deeper into her lower abdomen, he hooked his feet up and under her body armor. Then, with his legs straightened completely out, he brought his legs towards himself, bringing the girl’s forehead into rapid contact with the hard, wooden floor. Her head bounced off the floor with a sickening thwack, and he swore he heard her skull fracture with the severe contact. The whole movement actually gave him enough momentum to return to his feet, as he stood fully on top of the girl under him. She was bleeding badly from her forehead and she was fully unconscious. He felt she should have cried out from the pain of the whole experience, but she was silent the entire time. She must be mute, he thought, before he felt a strong, sudden kick land across the small of his back, nearly tumbling him over. 

He nearly went down, the intense, throbbing pain from his shattered arm distracting him more then he had realized. Ravager, he thought; he had failed to detect the entrance of Ravager to this fight. Even as he tumbled from the impact, but as he spun around and saw the intense expression of her face, he suddenly, and without thinking, spun around and, using this new found inertia swing at her with his left hand, striking her in the face as hard as he could. She reeled back in the pain and shock of the impact. Seeing his opportunity, Robin rushed her with his left arm outstretched, and fully clotheslined her as hard as he could, throwing her out a window on the opposite side of the building.

It all reflected the training he’d received as a part of the Bat-family, about taking removing opponents as quickly and as efficiently as possible in order to avoid prolonged confrontations, because the longer a confrontation dragged on, the more unknown and unaccounted elements could begin to take effect. He had struck Ravager so hard in fact, that he was only just starting to realize that he’d broken his knuckle in the process. But before he could linger on his training any further he suddenly felt an all too familiar dark energy encompassing him, and as fast as he could blink he found himself pinned to the far wall. 

Or at least he thought it was the far wall until he opened his eyes and found the floor staring back at him; he was being forced back against the roof by the entry of yet another opponent through the open door. But the dark energy which held him up, that was Raven’s energy! Even as he thought this, the dark cloaked figure of Brother Blood walked up to him until he was just under him. 

“You really didn’t think I couldn’t sense you, did you little Robin? I can feel her aura all over you!” Brother Blood taunted. Then he slowly pulled his dark hood back, and Robin was confronted by the gaze of the same amethyst hued eyes he’d come to know so well. And there, just above them was the all too familiar ruby chakra he’d become so accustomed to seeing. But this wasn’t the face of Raven. No, this was a man, or to he more precise, a teenager about Robin’s own age, who bore more then a strong resemblance to one of Robin’s dearest friends. The shock upon Robin’s face was strong, and likely more evident then he’d of liked. Who was this new Brother Blood!? How was he connected to Raven!? Just being in his presence elicited a strong reaction within Robin, though in his current mind state, he couldn’t place it.

Then Robin shifted his thoughts elsewhere, trying to find his way out of this situation, when suddenly he remembered his past planning. So with a grin, he slowly raised the detonator and held it before him with his left hand, a smirk slowly growing on his face. At first this new Brother Blood seemed confused by the gesture, until the shock of comprehension suddenly flooded his features. Suddenly Robin felt himself falling to the floor as Brother Blood took to surveying his surroundings looking for any potential explosives, but to no avail. 

As Robin fell, he squeezed the button on the detonator, and almost as suddenly the blast of the explosives could be heard ringing through his ear, and suddenly the floor started falling to the sea, before splitting completely and sparing Robin the pain of impacting the hard wooden floor as he was instead swallowed up by the sea, the roof of the boathouse coming down over him, the pain, exhaustion and an ever increasing loss of blood finally taking him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanx for reading friends! Also I wanted to address the manner in which I write Robin. I feel as though his tactical and planning prowess as a leader are often aluded to, but never really described. I thought it would be interesting to give the audience a glimpse inside his mind and give them an idea as to how he thinks and approaches problems. Of course, this may make the story a bit boring as it drags on, but it’s all a part of the illusion. Anyways, thanx for reading again!


	3. Chapter 3

Darkness. And cold. It was so cold. It seeped into his bones and pervaded the deepest parts of his mind and body. Beyond the cold he felt nothing. It was a numb sort of sensation which enveloped him and made him feel as though he were floating through the darkest reaches of purgatory itself. And even though any semblance of time had long since slipped by, he couldn’t help but felt that time had been gradually slowing down for him. It was almost like the Big Bang, but in reverse. Instead of nothing expanding out into everything, everything which he was made of was coming in on itself and imploding. And even though any perception of thoughts, sensations and feelings had already receded by then, it felt as though death was awaiting just on the other side of this wholistic implosion of his existence. That’s when he felt it, meaning he actually felt it. 

Some semblance of sensation had washed over him. In the darkness, there was the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder reverberated throughout his body. It was a noise which didn’t recede into the background, but slowly echoed through him, and sounded more and more like the rushing of waves upon the beach. He was bathed in bright, warm light, and he started to feel his existence start to explode outwards, and back into reality. The sensation of it all could only be described as surreal. 

Increasingly the sound of roaring thunder and rushing waves sounded more and more muffled. It was almost as if the sound of the living world were just on the other side of a conscious barrier, a barrier which he had yet to cross over. Then there was a popping sensation, followed by the perception of a thousand tiny bubbles seemingly flickering and popping somewhere somewhere above him, and just out of sight. Slowly he felt the warmth of his body return, the numbness slowly receding behind the fleeting edge of consciousness as he started to become more aware of his surroundings. He felt the cold concrete under him. He could feel the chilled breeze flow over him. There was a muffled sound reverberating in his ears. 

It was next to him, not far off. Before long, as his hearing fully returned, he began to recognize the sound as a voice. Someone was speaking to him, or rather at him. It was sweet and rather high in pitch, and it sounded nervous or alarmed. As he queued into it more, he began to realize that it was a girl’s voice. A young girl in fact. The voice sounded like that of a child, who couldn’t have been any more then ten. And as she was speaking, Robin began to pick up on what she was saying, his mind slowly starting to recover.

“… an emergency! Oh darn, this is bad, this is bad! This… this is real bad! He doesn’t look good! Where’s his communicator?!” 

At that, he felt tiny little hands begin to feel along his uniform, slowly working their way down until they came to his utility belt. Then the child began rummaging through the various pockets of his utility belt until she seemed to find what she was looking for. “Ah-hah!” She vocalized. Robin could then hear the girl as she started fiddling with his communicator. Feeling some of his former strength returned, Robin tried opening his eyes for the first time since consciousness washed over his form. He found the effort exacted a heavy toll on him, and even as he slowly opened his eyes, he found the effort of doing so was actually painful. 

He tried bringing his right arm up to rub his eyes, but immediately felt the pang of excruciating pain reverberate it’s way up his arm and into his shoulder so that that entire portion of his body began to hurt. He would have screamed in agony had he the energy to do so. As things were, he didn’t even have the strength to wince. He decided, therefore, against even trying to move his left arm. He opened his eyes once more, and the pain found him there as well. His eyes began to water and he felt a splitting headache forming at the back of his head. 

At first his vision was blurry. But slowly he began to perceive the stars of the night sky. It seemed like all that was immediately around him was aglow. It took him a second to realize the glowing came from several fires which were burning all around him. I must still be at the docks, he thought, his mind recovered enough to begin forming coherent thoughts once more. The he became aware of movement in his perigee also, just off to his right. Training his gaze in that direction revealed the source of the voice which he had earlier heard. 

Though it was still dark, he could tell that the girl was a tiny, petite thing and couldn’t have weighed any more then 40 pounds or so. Her face was draped by long, messy brown hair. Her features were small and dainty, and she seemed to resemble the face of a cherub. This also revealed to Robin that his original estimate of her age may have been a bit high, as by appearances the small child looked to be around six or eight years old at the oldest. And in her tiny little hands she held his communicator, which she was still fiddling with. Then she spoke again. 

“Where is it, where is it, where is it!! Could this be it? No. What about this?! No, not it either.” She was looking for his emergency beacon, he thought. He wanted to get up to help her, but he lacked the strength. He then tried reaching out with his good arm at her, but again was unable. He found all this exertion, and even the effort of keeping his eyes open drained him of what little strength which he possessed. Because of this, he found his vision starting to black out, and before he knew what was happening, he found consciousness recede from his weary form once more. But even in the darkness of his subconscious, snippets of audio stimulation echoed in his mind.

“… no, no, no…” … “…still nothing…”… “…emergency…” this was the girl’s voice still. But before long he began to hear the constant beeping of his emergency beacon, and not long after that new voices began calling out to him.

“Robin?! Is that you?!” echoed a voice. It was Starfire’s voice, and she sounded scared. His consciousness continued to come and go after that. When it faded back in, he could hear the voices of his friends.

“… is he?!” Starfire seemed to be calling out. Then nothing again. Then another voice rang in his ears.

“… locked on his signal…” that was Cyborg’s voice. Then his hearing faded out again. It only faded back in when he felt the world around him starting to shake. Or rather, he felt himself being shaken. Then he heard voices again. Shrill voices calling out in horror.

“Robin?! Robin?! Do not depart from us friend Robin!”

“…vitals are weak! We gotta him move now! Go, go! Careful! Clear a path!”

“Move, move!”

“…ath Metrion Zinthos!” Then the cold darkness again.


	4. Chapter 4

Darkness. And cold. And the pain. So much pain. A dull, aching pain which seemed to reverberate throughout his whole body. Though the experience of pain meant that consciousness was upon him again. That’s when he slowly became aware of the rest of his senses. The room seemed to posses a sort of sterile, plastic-like smell. His body felt heavy. His right arm seemed to be placed in a cast and was suspended just next to him. The third finger on his left hand seemed to be sandwiched between the embrace of some sort of splint. He also slowly became aware of at least a dozen additional bandages all across both of his arms and neck, and even one graced his left cheek. He also felt a pounding in his head, likely indicating a concussion.

He also became aware of a constant, rhythmic beeping in his ear, which seemed to have picked up tempo the more aware he became. Her could also hear the buzzing and beeping of other machines about the room. But what garnered his attention he most was s melodic humming, which seemed to be emanating just to the right of him. It came to him through a familiar sounding voice, a voice laced with exhaustion and worry, judging by the slightly off key, hoarse and unsteady tone which carried it to his ears. It was Starfire. Robin began wondering how long she’d been sitting there, or even how long he’d been under for that matter. 

“Star?” He called out, before the thought to do so had even came to his mind and even surprising himself a little. Slowly he opened his eyes, wincing at the over-saturation of light which greeted his strained eyes. At that the humming ceased, and the sound of someone standing from an old rickety chair could be heard as Starfire quickly made her way to his side, her joy and relief hanging heavy in the air.

“Robin!? Oh, friend Robin! You are the awake! It is so good to hear of your voice again!” She practically screamed through the hoarseness of her voice. She was even constantly jumping up and down a little as she spoke, as if to add emphasis to her feelings of joy. She then lowered herself over his reclined form and squeezed him into a hug so tight it actually hurt.

“Oh, friend Robin!” She exclaimed again. “Oh, the others! They may wish to share of the friendly visits with you as well! I must call of them!” With that she grabbed her communicator, before screaming into it, excitement still seemingly coursing through her veins, even as all her screaming was starting to hurt his ears.

“Dear friends! Come! Come and see! Robin is the awake now!” Then she went back to embracing Robin where he lay, causing him to wince in pain again. With the pain and soreness reverberating through his body, it actually took him a few moments to realize that Starfire seemed to be weeping.

“You scared me, Robin” She said through a voice shaking under the strain of conflicting thoughts and feelings. Before long a green bird appeared out in the adjacent hallway before flying its way into the medical ward. As it neared his bedside, it suddenly morphed in mid air, and the form of Beast Boy suddenly stood before him. As Beast Boy rushed to his side, arms outstretched, he only had one word to say.

“Dude!” was all he managed to get out before he suddenly found himself laid out on the floor, where Cyborg left him after accidentally tackling him while Cyborg himself made his way to Robin’s bedside.

“Alright! Finally!! Got tired of sleeping on the job, didja Rob?” Cyborg chided. All of this brought a smile to Robin, at least on the inside; he was still too tired and sore for a smile to actually grace his features. He was sure that to his friends he looked completely stoic, all business as usual. Yet another trait he had inherited from the Bat-family. Idly he began wondering about just how many mannerisms he’d learned from his former mentor, when he suddenly tuned back into what was being said all around him. Beast Boy by then had picked himself off of the ground and joined the others by Robin.

“Not cool, yo! Not cool!” He was yelling to Cyborg. 

“Whatevs, man; you’re just too little!” Cyborg teased.

“Wha!? Too little? Am I too little now, bro!?” said Beast Boy, as he transformed into a gorilla shoved Cyborg with enough force to throw him across the room. “I’m tired of you always pushing me around!” He yelled. Cyborg was quick to recover, though and was sting on his feet in quick order. Suddenly his expression soured into one that Robin could actually never remember seeing before.

“Push you around!? I’m just trying to push you to be better, Beast Boy! You never take things seriously, and that’s how people get hurt!” Cyborg yelled back. If his words were meant to calm Beast Boy’s rage, it had only the opposite effect, as Beast Boy puffed up his gorilla chest, banged in it a few time with his fist, and started running Cyborg down. In response, Cyborg raised his arm and activated his particle beam cannon, pointing it squarely at Beast Boy. Starfire was mortified, attempting to jump between them.

“Stop it!” She yelled to both of them, but they seemed to be ignoring her, as the tried to reach around her, each grabbing at the other. Robin had had enough.

“Hey! That’s enough, you two!” He snapped. That seemed to garner their attention. It had been a while since they had heard words spoken from a position of authority, and Robin blames himself. After all, he had been gone from the tower on his lone wolf mission for the better part of six weeks by that point. But seeing his team in the heavily conflicted state alarmed him greatly. It was obvious to him that these problems hadn’t developed over night. Just what had happened while he’d been away? 

It was only then that re realized just how much he had over strained himself in sitting up to get their attention. Suddenly he felt light headed. He went to fun his temples, He he felt resistance and sharp pain emanating from his right arm. Of course he had forgotten that his right arm was suspended next to him and that moving it would not have been wise. The increasing, shooting pain coming from that arm drew his attention, and as he looked it over, he saw that blood had soaked through the cast and the bandages. He realized that in all his strained, frantic attempts to garner their attention he must have re-opened the bullet wound.

“Oh, no no no no!” Starfire cries out. Apparently she’d seen the blood as well and it upset her greatly. Cyborg was quick to rush over and attend to the reopened wound as best he could. He released the wires suspending Robin’s arm and with a scalpel opened the cast around Robin’s arm. All that could be seen was a re-opened wound and blood. Lots of blood.

“Damn. Damn damn damn!” Cyborg cursed under his breath. Immediately he went for a syringe, placing the end of the hypodermic needle into a small glass bottle labeled both ‘lidocaine’ and ‘epinephrine’. He pulled the bottom of the syringe down, drawing the clear liquid into the syringe itself. Once he had achieved the desired level, he pushed the syringe forward a little until some of the clear liquid squirted out the end of the hypodermic needle. He then quickly stuck the needle into Robin’s arm and injected the solution into him. As Cyborg set to work, Robin turned to the other Titans.

“What’s wrong with you guys!?” He asked, to no one in particular. 

“It’s nothing, dude; Cyborg’s just been getting all bossy an all since you left is all.” Beast Boy answered.

“It is not ‘the nothing’, Beast Boy.” Starfire interjected, raising her arm and pointing at Beast Boy as she spoke. “You have been acting ‘the butt’ since Robin left! You have been the slob, and your combat performance has not been good! Perhaps you should consider the responsibility!” Beast Boy was starting to get riled up again, the look of profound hurt and frustration evident upon his face. 

“Well excuse me, Princess! We can’t all be perfect like you! I mean you fly around all day actin’ all cheery an what not, preaching to me about responsibility, but what do you do all day, huh?! Play with kitties!? You tell me to grow up, but you still think ‘hugs and kisses’ will solve all our problems, Star! Why don’t you actually try that on the bad guys and see how it goes Star, because you don’t know anything! You don’t get it!”

“You! You are behaving like a royal zarbnorf!” Starfire huffed before she lashed out at Beast Boy. Whether or not she had intended so, when she swung her arm, she actually struck him hard enough to send him across the room. He landed hard and struggled to regain his breath as he slowly sat up. Starfire was mortified at having hurt him, her anger quickly superseded by shock and regret. Slowly, she made for Beast Boy and tried to embrace him.

“Beast Boy, I-“

“Don’t touch me! I don’t need this! I’m done! I’m just done!” He screamed as he quickly stormed off, his voice unsteady and tears already forming in his eyes. For her part, Starfire felt the stinging flash of shame wash over her, before tears of regret began falling from her own eyes. Suddenly she felt so exposed, and a burning desire to be alone overcame her. So she withdrew quickly from the medical bay, with a heavy heart and an clouded mind, her feet seemingly on auto-pilot as they carried her along. All Cyborg could do was sigh, as he continued to work on Robin’s arm.

“What happened here?” Robin asked him. Cyborg seemed to think for a bit before he gave any answer.

“I… I don’t even know, man. I think it all started out with simple things, and little disagreements. Only they kept going unresolved and started festering. From there old wounds began to resurface. I guess it all really started with Terra.” Terra. There was a name that Robin did not want to revisit. Even after all the time that had passed since she betrayed them and met her end, it remained an uncomfortable topic for him.

“I mean, Beast Boy really cared for her. He still thinks we could have redeemed her.”

“But what do you think?” Robin asked him.

“Me? Honestly, I don’t know what to think anymore.” Cyborg thought for a bit before he continued. “Maybe our problems all started with all the time we were arguing about how complacent he was and how he never took things seriously. I think he just felt ganged up on. Before long, every time we’d have a disagreement he starting saying things like ‘Terra would have his back’ and ‘that’s not what him and Terra would do’ and what not. And I just got tired of telling him that we’d never know for sure how Terra would feel, because she turned her back on us. Beast Boy didn’t like to hear it though.” Robin sat in silence for a bit, his mind racing a million miles an hour about everything. His team. The case. What to do next. It took Cyborg to finally break the silence.

“And Star didn’t help any either. She just went on and on about how Beast Boy should be bettering himself and how he wasn’t living up to his true potential. I mean I know she was just trying to help, but it only made things worse. And Raven? She just sat there and never said anything.” Robin’s ears perked up at hearing her name.

“Where is Raven, by the way.” Cyborg’s mood noticeably soured at hearing the question.

“Raven? She… uh… something’s wrong with her, man. I think she’s sick. I mean she’s lost a lotta weight. I’m pretty sure she hasn’t been sleeping because she just looks rough. Her mood’s been pretty bad too. Shes been irritable and she lashes out at everyone. She’s been losing control of her powers. Also, I’ve heard her talking to herself a lot recently too. Hell, she’s even started missing missions. I’ve asked her about it, but she snapped and told me to just leave her alone.” Robin took the news in silence, though it disturbed him deeply. 

Of all the Titans, he shared a special connection with her, as she was the most like himself. She was also the only Titan who knew his most closely guarded secrets, as he guarded the fact that she was actually a member of the Bat-family as he was; it was Batman, after all, who helped her when when she first arrived on Earth, even after the Justice League had rejected her. He was actually disappointed that she wasn’t there when he woke up, but if things were as bad as Cyborg indicated, then he understood her reasonings. Though what bothered him the most was the fact that, though they shared a psychic connection with each after they shared minds, he couldn’t feel anything from her. By then he knew all too well what that meant; she was attempting to keep something from him.

“So what’s my prognosis?” He finally asked Cyborg, even if only to break the silence and alter the heavy tension which hung freely in the air.

“Well, where to begin. Besides all the broken bones and major cuts and scrapes I’m assuming you already knew about, pretty much your whole body was beat up and bruised pretty good. And you also suffered a concussion, and even slight hypothermia. You were out for three days cold. Most of your wounds will heal in a few weeks. But your right arm? That could take months, or even as long as a year. I’m guessing that you got your ass whooped pretty good.” Cyborg finished with a grin. Robin found his mood to be infectious and he even smiled a bit, which was Cyborg wasn’t accustomed to seeing. Then, just as suddenly, Cyborg’s mood became somber again, and Robin knew what was coming next.

“Look, man; I know that secrets are your thing and all, but you nearly died. I know you have your reasons, but whatever they are, whatever you’ve gotten yourself into, just know that we always got your back, man.” Was all he said. Robin actually felt relieved. He had expected more of an interrogation on the matter but Cyborg somehow seemed to understand just how important this was to him. With that, Cyborg turned and went to leave, when another thought came to Robin. The girl.

“Hey Cy; on the night you guys found me on the docks. You didn’t happen to see a little girl hanging around, did you?” Cyborg seemed confused.

“… Little girl?”

“Yeah, she would have been about six or eight, brown hair?” 

“Nah man, just you. You were alone when we found you.”

“Oh, alright. Thanks anyway.” Robin finished. Cyborg seemed confused, but he turned and left Robin to rest without asking follow-on questions. That left Robin to wonder if the girl was an imaginative figment of his oxygen starved brain. That would have made some sense as he was unfamiliar with her, and he doubted such a small girl could have pulled him from the water and placed him on the docks, which lay at least ten feet above the water’s surface. But then… his communicator. He didn’t activate it, someone else had of have. At any rate, it was a mystery for another day, as Robin had more immediate things to deal with.


	5. Chapter 5

Darkness. And cold. It was so cold. He had a headache. No, not quite a headache. It felt as though his mind was being pulled apart by unseen hands. The more he dwelled on the pain, the more intense it became. The pain grew and spread until sweat began to form across his brow. Then he became aware of a faint whispering. It was only just audible somewhere in the back of his mind, and it was far from coherent, but he could pick up on it none the less. The whispering was grating, and slowly chipped away at frayed edges of Robin’s mind in a manner many ways reminiscent of the Chinese water torture. It was pure agony. He felt his breathing begin to elevate due to the stress. 

The pain and the whispering was becoming too much to bare. But even as he endured it, he began to realize that there was something strange about the sensation of the pain. It felt somehow… detached, like it was coming from some place else but being projected into his mind. It was like the pain held a kind of directionality about it. And the more he let his mind reach out to find the source, the more it seemed to him to be coming from the far corner of the dark room. 

As such, he suddenly found his gaze focus in on that area of the room, and he began to notice just how much darker that corner was compared to the rest of the room. It was like staring into the abyss, a swirling black vortex of darkness. Fear. He felt himself become flush with fear, and his body began to tremble, though from the fear or from the sudden drop in the room’s temperature he couldn’t tell. Strangely enough, the more he stared into the abyss, the more the pain and the whispering subsided into the darkest recesses of his mind. Then followed the silence. It was a deathly silence which brought no comfort and only served to alarm him further. He felt the air around him grow thick with the tension, and the dark vortex kept swirling even as he stared into it; and the vortex stared back.

Robin’s heart caught in his throat. The vortex was staring back at him! He could feel it! And as his eyes focused in on a central point, he could see it! There in the vortex, two small eyes were watching him! The air grew thicker still as his heart rate began to climb ever higher, the heart rate monitor he was tethered to beating faster and faster. As he looked on, the vortex solidified in shape, and all at once it hovered over to him, faster and faster and growing larger and larger until a black mass hovered over him. 

From somewhere deep within the darkness, two eyes cast their glance upon him, staring deeply into his own eyes through his mask. Straight into his blue eyes. Wait, blue? He knew the color of his own eyes, so why did that detail stick out to him so much? It was almost as if… he was receiving the thoughts of someone else! But few others knew the true color of his eyes except… those eyes! Those amethyst eyes!

“Raven?!” He called out into the depths of the black form. Slowly the girl removed the hood from her head, her face slowly coming into view. And Robin felt a twinge is sorrow as he beheld it, as Cyborg had been right. She didn’t look well, not at all in fact. Her eyes were blood shot, pupils dilated and their amethyst hue which reflected back his worst fears seemed somehow dull and listless. There were black rings surrounding both eyes which hinted at the pure aura of exhaustion which she exuded.

Her skin was so pale it was virtually white and she wore the most pained expression across her features. Her breaths were shallow, and even the act of breathing seemed to shake her body. She was clearly in pain, the pain he had felt earlier in fact. Their shared psychic link! He was feeling her pain through their shared link! In fact, she looked like she was dying, and that scared Robin most of all. He wanted to rise up and embrace the fragile girl and breathe new life into her, but given his current situation he was unable. 

There were so many things he wanted to say to her, so many questions that he didn’t even know where to start. But before he could say anything, he looked on as her own eyes began to travel the length of his body, looking him up and down as if sizing him up. Once she had finished this, her eyes returned to his. He could see something unspoken in her eyes, and feel some silent decision leap from her mind and into reality, though Robin himself had yet to be queued into it. 

Thus, Raven outstretched her lithe arms, hovering them over him for a brief moment before she spread them a bit and lowered them until she was touching him. Then the realization of the situation dawned on him, and he made to protest, but it was too late; the ritual had already begun. He could feel a surge of energy rising above him like a torrent, the warmth given off soothing his aching muscles. Still, he tired to shake her off, but she held firm and the ritual continued.

“Raven, no! Don’t do this!” he cried, but she held firm still. Then he felt warm, pulsating tendrils encompass him, his whole body feeling warmer and warmer, the soothing sensation washing over him, taking his pain away. But as the pain left him, it entered her a hundred fold; thus was the price of her empathic healing abilities. In fact the pain seized her quickly as her features were quickly distorted by the pain radiating through her body. But it only grew more intense with each passing moment. Her knees started to buckle and her whole body started to convulse. Sweat formed on her brow and her breathing hiked dramatically up. 

“Raven, stop! Your hurting yourself, please!” Robin tried reasoning with her again but still she held firm, unwavering in her dedication. Soon she began to cry out and shriek in horrible pain, and her knees gave out, causing her to crumble on the floor by his bed. And yet she still held firm. Finally, with a new found surge of energy and strength, Robin managed to sever their physical connection.

“Raven, enough!” He yelled, but it was too late; by then she had already finished. Her breathing was highly erratic, her haunting groans and moans highlighting the horrific pain she was enduring, the price she paid for healing her dearest friend. It caused her to fold in onto herself, bringing her knees into her chest as she lay writhing in agony.

“Raven, please talk to me!” He called out. Based on what Cyborg had told him earlier regarding Raven’s well being, he was terrified about the possible repercussions of Raven putting herself through that kind of stress, especially in her weakened condition. And as he began struggling to free himself of the wires which were suspending his now fully healed right arm, he began to curse himself for his carelessness. 

If he hadn’t been dumb enough to get himself fucked up, Raven wouldn’t have to put herself through such a horrific experience. He should have known as a leader that, every mistake comes with consequences, consequences which others may have to suffer through, and that just didn’t set right with him. But as he struggled to free himself, suddenly Raven outstretched her arm, and her dark aura encompasses him. Knowing full well what she was about to do, he began calling out to her once more.

“No, Raven! Please! Let me help you!” but to no avail. As her dark energy seeped through every fiber of his being, he felt his strength being sapped away, and the haunting embrace of exhaustion and the dire need for sleep washed over him. And as his head slowly landed on the pillow with a muffled thwump, as his eyes began to close, he watched as Raven phased herself through the floor and disappeared beyond a veil of darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

The sun cast its light through the adjacent window, its warm light banishing the darkness from the room. And as the rays of the sun slowly warmed the metal of his body, Cyborg gently stirred awake. It had all the makings of a wonderful day, he thought, but he realized that with all the tension which permeated the tower these last several weeks, a good day was not likely in coming. So, he turned his face away from the sun and resolved to go back to sleep. Suddenly, an alarm went off in his head, telling him that the heart rate monitor he had hooked up to Robin had suddenly flatlined! 

Panic overcoming him, he rushed from his room as fast as his feet could carry him and burst into the med bay fearing the worst. There, next to the bed, stood Robin, pulling the top of his uniform over his body so that he became fully dressed. As he did so, Cyborg could easily make out the absence of wounds and bruising which had covered him the day prior. 

“ROBIN!? What the!? How the!? Who!” He spit out before understanding came to him. “Raven.” he said. But Robin remained silent. “Well, that girl never ceases to amaze me.” Once he was finished dressing, Robin went quickly out the door of the med bay, apparently headed for the elevator. “Hey, where ya goin, man?” Cyborg called after him, but he never answered. Figures, Cyborg thought. Just like his mentor.

Robin exited the elevator at the berthing hall, and moved quickly for Raven’s room. As he stood before her door, he wasted no time in pounding on its surface as hard as he could, desperate to garner her attention. But she didn’t answer. A wave of panic overcame him, and he started frantically banging on her door some more, calling out to her as he did so.

“Raven! Come on, answer the door! Just give me a sign, let me know you’re alright!” He yelled into the door. But still she didn’t answer. Panic then gave way to downright alarm as he frantically entered the override code into the panel on Raven’s door. The door opened, but not quickly enough for him, so he strong armed it and rushed into the room. His heart sank at the sight which greeted him. Raven’s normally clean and orderly room had given way to chaos. 

Clothes, books were strewn all about the place. The walls were covered in cuneiform and runes and other symbols he didn’t recognize. Dark magic swirled around the room, several magical items Robin was unfamiliar with caught in its tendrils and spun about the room erratically and he could feel an unsteady magical pulse in his chest. Putting on a brave face he ventured further in the room as he looked around for Raven.

“Raven!? Raven!? Ra-“ he called out until he saw her, sprawled out across her bed. Eyes tightly closed, though flickering erratically in all directions. Her jaw was clenched painfully shut. Her limbs twitched and her body convulsed. “Raven!” He called again, but she was silent. He reached out a hand and grabbed ahold of her. Pain! No sooner had he touched her then a terrible, scorching hot pain shot through him, throwing him back. He struck the wall with a hard this, knocking the wind from his body. As he writhed in pain, he looked back to Raven and saw as she began levitating. 

It was almost as if something had reached out to her and was pulling her away. Before he was fully aware, Robin was in the air, lunging for her. Once he latched onto her, he held on to her much more firmly, so that when the swearing pain flashed through is body again, he was too tightly tethered to Raven. So, together they fell to the floor, next to Raven’s bed with a hard bang! The shock wave from their explosive landing sent the magical items caught in the tendrils of her dark magic flying all around in all directions and crashing into the walls with tremendous force. Even her bedroom window shattered from the force of the impact. As Robin struggled to recover from the impact, Raven began to stir under him, and she seemed none too pleased.

“What the?! Why are you in my room!” She yelled before she saw the state of her room. “My room! What the hell happened! What did you do!” She began pacing her room erratically, walking along the walls, her manic behavior seemingly greatly aggravated.

“No no no no no! The runes! The runes, I don’t remember them all, I gotta replace them I gotta…” she blurted out as she inspected the damage to her bedroom walls, the damage having removed large chunks of the writing that was previously found there. She began frantically running her hands along the walls, running the length of the room until she cut her fingers on a jagged metal piece of the broken wall. 

She reeled in surprise at the wounds, the blood quickly pouring from her hand and dripping to the floor below. She inspected the wound only briefly before she started writing on the wall, using her blood as the ink, several runes reappearing on its surface. She had been muttering incoherently seemingly to herself the whole while. It hurt Robin to his core to see the normally stoic and intelligent girl in such a dire and manic state at this. Quickly he walked over to her and pulled her away from the wall.

“Raven, you’ve got to stop this!” He said as he shook her a bit, hoping to raise out of her some semblance of her old measures of self control. Then he pulled her into a tight embrace, tucking her head under his chin as he wrapped his arms tightly around his body.

“You’re scaring me, Raven; I’m miss you.” He said, his voice soft and trembling as he attempted to stave off tears. The emotions which he gave off seemed to seep into her fragile frame and overwhelm her, as before long she had embraced him back, her hands fully wrapped around him and had started weeping hard into his chest. This small gesture made him feel a little better, but he knew it was fleeting, as he knew he had questions he had to ask her.

“You had a vision, didn’t you.” Robin suddenly blurted out, trying to get to the bottom of her strange behavior through the most direct route possible. She seemed greatly taken aback, and she briefly seemed at a loss for words on the topic as she backed away from him.

“Of course not.” She finally said, even as she looked away from him, tears still streaming down her face. But Robin knew she was lying; he could somehow feel it. But what he couldn’t figure out was why she’d hide it from him. He decided the only way to get her to open up was to be forthcoming about his recent mission. He knew they shared a secret trust in one another, and that playing to that was his best bet.

“Raven, I saw something several nights ago. I saw Brother Blood.” But she merely scoffed at him.

“Robin, Brother Blood is dead, okay? End of story.”

“But there’s a new Brother Blood” He said, but Raven didn’t seem interested. But he kept going, in spite of himself. “And I’ve already met him.” He continued. Suddenly, Raven’s whole demeanor dramatically shifted. Her eyes went wide, and she turned to look at him with an expression which indicated that he’d finally garnered her attention.

“You’ve actually seen him?!” she inquired, a dire sense of urgency granting emphasis to his words. Robin went to answer her, finally glad that he’d reached her. But his moment was dashed, when without warning the other Titans made their way up the hall and entered her room through where the door had formerly stood. 

“Whoa, dude! What happened, Mama?!” Beast Boy asked them.

“Perhaps you were having the bad dreams?” Starfire pointed out. Though as soon as the others appeared, her whole demeanor suddenly changed again. Her face shifted to a look of hard indifference, though Robin was learning that this was merely a mask that she hid behind. Quickly she stormed out of the room and headed up the hall. Robin noticed how the others looked away and gave her a wide berth as she left, as at this point they seemed too afraid to reach out to her. As Robin went to go after her, he found his way suddenly blocked by the others.

“Wait, Robin! What happened to you, bro! You’re all better!” Beast Boy observed.

“Yes! Truly, this is a miracle!” Starfire exclaimed. But Cyborg seemed to understand the situation better than the others. He quickly grabbed them both and pulled them out of his way.

“Hey guys, we gotta look this room over and figure out how we’re gonna fix it.” He said, while looking over to Robin and giving him a knowing nod. Taking the hint, Robin ran out into the hallway after Raven. But when he got there, he saw that she was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

He’d given up on the tower after he’d spend all morning looking for her. He didn’t even know why he had bothered; somehow he knew that she wouldn’t be there. He figured that he’d probably done so merely as a check in the box, as an effort to show the others that he’d at least tried. But as he sat in the kitchen, dejected in his failure to find her, he mulled over his next step. Where could she have gone? She was incredibly withdrawn and weak, so she couldn’t have teleported herself very far. Which meant that she would be even weaker from the strain from pushing herself so hard. And all for what? What was happening to his team?! 

Raven. Raven, he reasoned. He had to solve this case and quick, but Raven came first. She was weak and unwell, and the more unwell she became the weaker she became and vice versa, meaning that she was stuck in an incredibly self-destructive loop. He needed to find her and fix this, fast! Besides, given his run in with Brother Blood, he was beginning to realize that Raven was going to be the key to the whole thing.

“Hey man, lunch is nearly ready. You gonna be joining us or what?” Cyborg asked him, pulling him from his thoughts. As he turned to look at Cyborg, he realized that Cyborg had already set the table for three people, instead of four. Somehow he seemed to already know that Robin wouldn’t be staying; not with Raven missing. Robin smiled at the thought. Cyborg was more intuitive then he let on. An unspoken recognition of this realization passed between them, as they gave each other s knowing nod. As Robin stood and made to leave, Cyborg suddenly call out to him.

“Hey Rob!” He said, as he tossed Robin a small sandwich bag. “ I’m thinking you’re gonna need this.” Robin opened the bag and found not one, but two sandwiches packed up and ready for travel. Robin smiled again, in spite of himself.

“Thanks, Cy.”

“Now you go and you bring our girl home where she belongs.” He said.

As Robin rode the elevator down to the hanger bay, his mind was once again occupied with Raven. Where could she have gone? She wasn’t on the island, but in her weakened state she couldn’t have traveled too far. Jump City. She must have teleported herself out to Jump City. She had a several hours long head start ahead of him, and he knew he had s lot of ground to make up for it now. He knew his best bet was to focus on the docks and the beach front. 

Should this fail to pan out, he’d have to work his way into the downtown area, checking all the transportation hubs leading out of town. He didn’t think she’d skip town, but he couldn’t be absolutely sure. He also realized that any investigation would be hindered should he parade around in his uniform, so he’d have to go in disguise again. So plain street clothes it was. Once Robin had packed some street clothes, he picked out a motorcycle from his small collection. 

Not one of the specially modifies Robin ones. No, his much beloved 1955 Vincent Black Knight it was. Once he fired the old bike up, he set off of the main land. As he went, he couldn’t help but think about how much fun these old bikes were. He’d been so preoccupied as of late that he’d begin to miss out in the simple pleasures. Once this case was finished, he thought. And Raven.

Once he’d reached the main land, he quickly found an out of the way, secluded place to change over into plain clothes. Then he began walking the streets. The majority of detective work, he reminded himself, was the leg work. Walk the streets, ask the questions, canvass the environment. This proved somewhat more difficult then he’d imagined, as he figured out that they had few pictures of Raven; virtually none of them were of any use. Thankfully, Raven’s appearance was unique enough to stand out, though despite this, no one seemed to have seen her. 

Having struck out at the beach, he went next to the docks. But he did so hesitantly, given the unpleasantries of only a few nights earlier. Again, he struck out; nobody there had seen her either. Eventually he found himself at the far side of the docks, where he had been on that night. Are enough, there was plenty of evidence of that night’s events. Police tape was everywhere. Half the dock was completely gone, leaving only a random piece dock in the middle of the bay, no longer connected to the land. Then there was the wrecked remains of the boathouse itself. 

Just looking at it caused him to shutter at the memory. Having given up, he sat down at a nearby bench, where a kid was playing hopscotch. He lambasted himself for his poor planning. I knew I should have hit up the transportation hubs first, he thought. Then he realized the lateness of the hour. The sun was nearly at the horizon by that point. He knew that this was a rough neighborhood, so he called out the the kid.

“Hey, kid. It’s getting dark. I think you better head home.” He said as he looked the kid over. It was a girl, with wild, disheveled brown hair and an adorable cherub’s face. He nearly fell out of the bench; it was her!

“You!” was all he could get out.

“How’s it going, mister!” She said as she continued with her game, not even bothering to look at him. He thought about walking up to her, but he decided against it.

“You were here the other night, weren’t you.” He asked.

“Yup. Pulled your sorry ass outta the water too. Got your ass whooped real good, mister!” He actually winced at her casual use of swear words. 

“You know, you shouldn’t use bad words.”

“Why?” She asked. Robin actually had a hard time finding a reason.

“Because… they’re adult words. And you’re just a kid.”

“I am?”

“Well of course you are. What else could you be?”

“Dunno” she shrugged her shoulders. She finally finished her game, before turning and finally looking him over. She seemed to be thinking about something for a bit before she finally spoke again.

“How’s Raven.” She asked. His heart skipped a beat. But the night’s surprises were only just beginning.

“Ra’s Al Ghul.” Said a dark and brooding voice from the shadows behind him. He knew it all too well. He closed his eyes and shook his head. So he knew. Of course he knew; he was the Batman after all. Slowly, Robin stood and turned around until he was face to face with his former mentor. Imagine his surprise, then, when he learned his former mentor wasn’t alone.

“Zatanna.” He curtly greeted from behind gritted teeth. From what little he had gleamed from Raven, he knew that Zatanna had it out for her, so her presence there that night could not have been a good sign.

“You should have alerted me.” Batman finally interjected through the heavy tension. Straight to the point as always, Robin thought.

“I can handle it.” Was all he thought to say in response. It was his case, after all.

“No, you can’t.” Batman responded. And there it was. The same old doubt, time and time again. And Robin felt the schism between them grow. He also knew that this simple statement held a thousand separate meanings. Ra’s Al Ghul was a heavy hitter, out of Robin’s league. This new Brother Blood was a dangerous unknown element. He’d slipped up and had gotten himself hurt, bad. Robin was sure there were others he wasn’t thinking of at the moment.

“This situation quickly got away from you, and you should have called for help” Batman said.

“So I fucked up, is that what you wanted to hear?! That I needed you to swoop in and save the day?! Well, that ain’t happening, because I’m all over this fucking case!” Robin yelled, betraying more raw emotion then he had intended. Batman did always have a habit of pulling out the worst in him.

“I’ll handle Ra’s Al Ghul.” Batman answered him, his tone level and brooding. Damn him, Robin thought. Bruce was always so much better at hiding his thoughts and feelings. But if he was handling Ra’s Al Ghul, then that meant he was leaving Robin Brother Blood. That actually surprised him a lot. And he wasn’t the only one to notice it.

“Wait, what?! What about Brother Blood, and Raven!” Zatanna cut in. “You really think the Teen Titans can handle them on their own?!”

“I trust them.” Was all Batman said, giving her a hard glare. But Zatanna remained unconvinced.

“Look, Batman; this new Brother Blood wields powerful dark magic. We still don’t even know how he’s able to do so. But he seems awfully interested in Raven, and we all know what that means.” She said, obviously alluding to Trigon. “All I’m saying is that you’re no magical authority, Batman. I still feel we better find Raven and take her with us, back to the League.” That didn’t set well with Robin at all. He was about to speak his mind, when someone else spoke up instead.

“Raven is not your concern, Zatanna; or have you forgotten that your no magical authority either.” Spoke the little girl. Robin was surprised at the child’s brashness. He was even more taken aback by Zatanna’s reaction to this small girl. She seemed intimidated, and even a little bit hesitant.

“Yes, of course, Mary. I understand completely.” Zatanna answered to the little girl. Robin shot the girl a look of confusion, but the small child simply stood next to him, beaming up at him.

“Then it’s settled.” Batman spoke, before turning about and disappearing back into the shadows. Zatanna hesitated. 

She looked like she had more to say on the matter, but looking to the small girl at Robin’s side, she thought the better of it. Instead, she turned about and followed Batman into the darkness. With their exit, he looked down to the child by his side. He felt he was owed some answers after all. But when he looked, she was gone. Surprised, he looked all around him, but he found no trace of the girl anywhere. Somehow he knew that he shouldn’t even have been surprised.


	8. Chapter 8

He awoke with a start. He had had the nightmare again. The one with the tight ropes and falling. And death. It was a dream which tended to circle back around to him at times when he was feeling particularly vulnerable and stressed. The last such time this nightmare had bothered him was when the team was dealing with Deathstroke, or as the team had come to know him, Slade. 

Slade. That name alone conjured up enough bad memories within him. Memories he’d rather not revisit at that moment. Not while she was still missing. Raven. The one and only friend he had with whom he could confine in everything. And with all that was happening, he needed her more than ever. But she was gone. He shook his head, attempting to dislodge the spiderwebs clogging up his mind, as he rose and made his way to the common room.

“No way man! Just leave me alone!” Beast Boy yelled as he stormed past Robin as he left the common room, probably on his way to his room. Robin didn’t know what to think as he surveilled the room. Cyborg looked upset, as he turned around and headed for the kitchen. Starfire looked dejected, as she stared out the window at the bay. It was a beautiful view, and the sun was shining and held all the ingredients for the perfect day. Robin couldn’t help but curse the sun for shining so brightly on a day like this. After all, shouldn’t it be raining? That would have better matched the mood, he felt. So he walked up to where Starfire was hovering.

“What happened.” He asked.

“They had the disagreement again.” She half whispered, before she turned to him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Oh, Robin; what is happening to the team.”

“I don’t know, Star.” He answered honestly. Suddenly, Starfire separates herself from him, and looked over to him, a serious look gracing her features. 

“Robin, I feel that we must have the talk.” She said. He was taken by surprise, not quite sure what she wanted to talk about. “Robin,” she continued, “you have not been very attentive as the leader. This case you have, which bothers you. It takes your mind from the team. The team suffers through the result. We are grown apart. Beast Boy and Cyborg are no longer the besties, and Raven is unwell. I wish you could let us in on the case you work.”

“I’m starting to think you may be right, Star.” Robin answered. After all, Cyborg said much the same recently, himself. After all sometimes he did forget he had a whole team of specialists at his disposal. It was just that he’d gotten used to operating as a lone wolf, and old habits were proving difficult to circumvent. “But we need to find Raven first.”

“Agreed” she answered, smiling for the first time in a while. But the moment was suddenly interrupted when the common room was suddenly bathed in the dashing red light of the alarm. No! Robin thought; no, not now! When Cyborg ran into the room, Robin quickly looked to him.

“What’s the situation.” He asked. Cyborg looked serious, so Robin knew something was very wrong.

“It’s the HIVE, they’re down at the docks.” He said. Robin grimaced. They’d fought the HIVE Five before, but their presence at the docks was alarming and not likely coincidental. Cyborg didn’t even need to specify where along the dock; Robin already knew. The alarm itself was enough to draw even Beast Boy back to the common room. He stood at the door, looking to Robin. As Robin looked to his teammates, he found that they were all looking to him. It only hurt him that Raven wasn’t there, like in the past. But still he knew what must be done.

“Titans, go!” He yelled, and the team sprang into action.

Unfortunately the trip to the docks was anything but uneventful. Starfire flew ahead, screening the way for the other Titans. Cyborg flew not far behind her, Robin holding on to him tightly as he hitched a ride. But Beast Boy lingered behind, unsure as to what bird to transform into for the flight to the docks. Cyborg scolded him severely for his indecisiveness, but he just shouted at Cyborg for being too bossy. So Robin stepped in and reprimanded him for his lack of focus. 

He hadn’t meant to, but by choosing a side, he had actually made the situation worse. Beast Boy finally settled on the form of a robin, likely to mock Robin himself, and quickly caught up with the rest of the team. As they neared the docks, they were surprised by the lack of activity they observed. There wasn’t a mob of people fleeing the scene, and there weren’t any explosions or other signs of mischief. Something was wrong.

“Titans, listen up. Somethings wrong down there.” Robin spoke into his intercom.

“Agreed. It’s too quiet for the HIVE” Cyborg chimed in.

“Perhaps this is the trap?” Starfire asked. It was certainly something worth considering, though that wasn’t the HIVE’s usual MO.

“Titans, listen up. We’re gonna go in low and slow, and we’re gonna come in just short of them. We gotta figure out what they’re up to.” He said. 

“Man, that’s so dumb! We don’t need to be stealthy, yo! I say we drop in guns ablazin’! We’ll be all like ‘blam blam! We got u suckas’ and they’d be all like ‘oh no, you got us again’!” Beast Boy countered.

“Beast Boy, we don’t have time for this!” Robin yelled.

“Man, whatevs! I know what I’m doin’!” he countered.

“Beast Boy! Cyborg scolded again.

“Fine, whatever; jeez!” He answered, finally giving in.

So they came down until they were only a few feet from the otherwise calm water, and attempted to travel slow enough as to not kick up any waves, but Cyborg failed to take into account Robin’s added weight and dipped too low, creating a massive and none too inconspicuous wake behind him. 

“Ha ha, in yo face, suckas! It wasn’t me that time, that’s right!” Beast Boy was quick to point out. Cyborg was clearly aggravated. 

“Shut up, Beast Boy!” He yelled before falling silent as he tried to refocus on the mission.

Once they neared the docks in question, they came in and landed so that they could reconnoiter the scene. As they entered the proximity of the site, Robin couldn’t help but wonder what drew the HIVE to this place. Of course, he already had a good inkling as to the answer. Brother Blood. The HIVE were first and foremost a mercenary group; super powered thugs for hire. 

And at times, the team seemed to forget that fact. It seemed likely that Brother Blood had acquired their services, though to what end, and what it had to do with the docks he couldn’t say. But he intended to find out. From where they were laying low, the members of the HIVE Five could be made out as they seemed to be searching around the docks. Strange, Robin thought. Just what were they looking for?

“Cyborg,” He called through the intercom, “give us ears on their conversation.”

“On it.” He replied as he pointed his arm to the HIVE, when it changed to a small antenna for his focused digital sound processing software. Slowly, the sound of static crackled through the headset, followed by the slow rush of water, before Cyborg finally got his equipment trained on the HIVE

“- are we looking through all this stuff for anyways.” Gizmo asked.

“Because I said so, duh.” Said Jinx.

“Awe shucks, how long we supposed ta be out here anyway?” Billy Numerous asked.

“Until we find what we’re looking for, so quit wining and keep searching! And stay vigilant. The Titans’ll probably show up at some point. They always do.” Jinx answered him. But there was a problem. Mammoth and See-More were nowhere to be found. It was doubtful they weren’t present. No, it was more likely that Mammoth was hovering somewhere near by and being held in reserve. See-more was probably being used as a guardian angel, which presented Robin with another problem; they may already have been detected!

“Titans-“ was all Robin got out, before the barge they were hiding on was suddenly and violently rocked by the added weight Mammoth placed on it when he suddenly dropped in on them. He smashed into Cyborg and threw him from the barge. Starfire was on him, but before she could take any action, she was suddenly struck by a long distance laser beam fired from a nearby warehouse. See-More, Robin thought. And from the same warehouse he himself had hidden in. How befitting the situation, he thought as he sprang to action.

“Beast Boy, the warehouse! Go!” He yelled. Without nary a word being said, Beast boy transformed into a bird and was off. Several blasts from a laser beam were concentrated on him, but he managed to take evasive action and avoided taking a hit. Once he was over the warehouse, he turned into a massive blue whale, and the whole warehouse collapsed in a loud crash of steel and concrete. 

While that was happening, Starfire had recovered from the blast, and had sent Mammoth flying through the walls of that same warehouse, just as it was coming down. That’ll take care of See-More and Mammoth for a while, Robin thought as he turned his attention to the other three HIVE members. From the docks, Robin heard Jinx yelling to the remaining two members of her team.

“HIVE Five, eat ‘em alive!” She cried. Things were off to a bad start, that much was for certain. What was the situation, Robin thought to himself. Beast Boy was still picking his way through the rubble of the warehouse he’d just demolished; he may be awhile. Starfire was still in good fight form, and she was pissed as hell. This was good; she’d be a much more effective fighter. Having finished with Mammoth, she was moving to engage the rest of the HIVE. Cyborg took a hard hit and hadn’t resurfaced from the bay just yet, though he couldn’t be far off. But he was out of the fight for the moment. Raven was still MIA. 

That left just him. That meant that, in that moment, Starfire was facing the HIVE alone. See-More and Mammoth were out of the fight, but probably for not much longer. That left them a narrow window with which to take down the remainder of the team. Starfire would be more than a match for them, but Robin took to his grappling gear and aimed it at a near-by crane so he could join the fight and increase the odds further for the Titans. 

Billy Numerous seemed to understand that he stood no chance against the rampaging alien princess, so attempted to get out of dodge. But Starfire moved too fast for him. She swooped down and picked him up, promptly throwing him at Jinx. She couldn’t act quick enough, and together they ended up in a crumpled pile of pain and bruises on the ground. But as Starfire recovered from the throw, she took a hit from Gizmo’s plasma cannon, and she went down. As Gizmo moved to hit Robin next, he flung a birdarang at Gizmo, where it hit him square in the face. 

Surveilling the scene quickly Robin found that Jinx had lashed out at him, her pink energy aimed squarely at him. Moving quickly on his heels, he actually felt the cracking of the energy blast as it barely passed him by, before flinging a birdarang at her, hitting her squarely between the eyes. Time was ticking, the fight was dragging longer then it should. As Robin recovered, he suddenly found himself surrounded as Billy Numerous tried to gang up on him. 

So, he pulled out his collapsible bo staff and engaged the many copies of Billy Numerous. Robin was a highly skilled and competent hand to hand combatant and easily proved to be more than a match for Billy Numerous, with the only advantage he possessed being sheer numbers. But Robin also understood the futility of fighting on indefinitely without a plan, so he slowly began to fight his way out of his encirclement. All the while, he had to keep at least one keen eye trained on the rest of his team and the progression of the battle.

Starfire was being overwhelmed. Between Jinx’s hexes and Gizmo’s plasma blasts, Starfire was struggling to break free from the engagement. That wasn’t good. Mammoth had finally broken free of the debris, and he was slugging it out with Beast Boy, who had changed into a gorilla. But Mammoth was far stronger and time was against Beast Boy, as See-More couldn’t be far behind Mammoth. Not good. Meanwhile, Cyborg had finally reentered the fight, and once he surveilled the scene, found that Beast Boy was in the most need of assistance, so he blasted Mammoth in the back with his plasma cannon. 

That immediately turned this fight in Beast Boy’s favor as he turned into a kangaroo and kicked the faltering Mammoth with all his might, hurling him down the pile of rubble. Suddenly Beast Boy was hit by a blast from a laser weapon from just bellow and behind him, and he too fumbled down the pile of rubble. The laser beam next focused in on Starfire, and even though she was already reeling in her own fight, the added blast from the lasers knocked her down. From there, Jinx focused the full light of her magic in insuring the alien princess stayed down. That freed up Gizmo to focus on Cyborg.

They blasted away at each other until a well aimed shot from See-More’s highly focused laser blasted Cyborg’s arm from his body. Following up on this, Gizmo hit him again with another plasma blast, and he too was down. He was promptly joined by Beast Boy, who was thrown at Cyborg by Mammoth. Mammoth landed next to them and continued pounding on both of them, to insure they stayed down as well, with Beast Boy only able to put up a token resistance. That left Robin all on his own.


	9. Chapter 9

They were losing. How had it come to this, Robin wondered as Gizmo and See-More trained in on him, after he had broken his encirclement by Billy Numerous. The team harmony was gone, eroded by too much in-fighting. They were easily distracted. He had led them into a trap that he should have anticipated. The fight dragged on longer then it should have. They had failed to capitalize on their early numerical advantage once Beast Boy had collapsed the warehouse. And Raven. They were short the one person who was arguably their most powerful member. And look where it all lead them. Disaster. Though slightly winded and still capable of fighting, Robin realized that even with all his skill the odds were heavily against him. Even free of Billy Numerous’ encirclement, he still had Gizmo and See-More to content with, which would slow him down and allow Billy Numerous to catch back up to him.

But he still had to try. Gizmo shot at him with his plasma cannon, but Robin narrowly managed to evade the blast, which struck the lead group of Billy Numerous’ on his tail. Then Robin took a hit from See-More’s laser blast, which fried his body armor and hurled him across the air, excruciating pain shooting through his body. Then Gizmo landed a blast from his plasma cannon, which effectively destroyed Robin’s body armor and flung him back the way he came. He was done. He doubled over in pain and even saw blood beginning to pool under him. Suddenly the sky grew dark, and a cold, cold breeze blew over them.

“Enough of this!” Cried a growling, demonic voice. The HIVE stopped what they were doing and looked to the sky, and so did Robin. There hovering above the scene, was Raven. But something was terribly wrong with her; she was red! Black energy swarmed around her angrily, four terrifying red eyes flowed out from beyond the darkness under her red hood, flames billowing from them. Even the HIVE seemed to sense the mortal danger they suddenly found themselves in, and began to withdraw. But it was too late. Bringing her hands to chakra, Raven screamed her mantra, her voice reverberating powerfully through the very air.

“Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” Suddenly there was a flash of darkness. Then the shrieking and the screaming began. The members of the HIVE were suddenly laid out on the ground, flailing and convulsing in writhing agony, their limbs contracting painfully and their eyes rolling into the backs of their heads and foam pouring from their mouths. It looked as though they were suffering through severe grand mal seizures. All, that is, except for Jinx, who seemed to be immune from the effects. By that time, the other Titans had started to recover and were horrified by what they were witnessing.

“You witch! So we’re finally seeing you for the monster you really are then?! Well since we’re at it, you want me to tell all the other Titans your dirty little secrets?!” Jinx yelled in a mocking tone overflowing with rage. Raven hissed and cried out a most terrible demonic shriek, her full attention suddenly focused on Jinx, and Jinx alone. Red eyes burned and boiled over in a great and fiery rage, while a great darkness seemed to surround Jinx. 

Quickly, Jinx’s whole demeanor changed from anger to fear as she began to feel the full weight of Raven’s awesome power become transfixed on herself. Finally realizing her mistake, Jinx turned about and tried to run, but once again it was too late. Quickly, the hexter was seized by Raven’s dark powers, and held up in the air. All the while panic seized her, and she began pleading for her very life.

“Please, Raven no! I didn’t mean it, please just let me down, please! Please I’m begging you!” She pleaded and she cried, the fear shaking her whole body. But it only served to make Raven all the more furious with her. As she was being held in the air, tendrils of Raven’s dark energy wrapped themselves around Jinx’s throat and clamped shut. Panic seized her, as she grabbed desperately at the tendrils, clawing and clawing as she attempted in vein to free herself. Her legs kicked wildly as her face began to turn a sickening shade of purple. Horrified by what he was seeing, Robin called out to her.

“Raven, no! Stop! This isn’t you!” He cried. And for a moment it seemed that he may have reached her. The tendrils released their hold on Jinx’s neck. Quickly, she took in several breaths and began coughing hard as she grabbed at her throat. But if she thought she was finished, she was sadly mistaken. Suddenly the dark energy encompassed her again, and she felt the greatest fear she had ever known firmly grip all her senses. 

And before the horrified gaze of the other Titans, Raven forcefully slammed Jinx into the ground. Jinx cried out in horror as she began to cough up blood. Then she was sent high into the air again, before she was slammed back down with a sickening thud. Jinx actually felt some of her bones break from the impact and she let out blood curdling screams of agony. But Raven’s fury still wasn’t sated. She lifted Jinx up and slammed her down again, and again and again, each time using more and more force. And with each impact, Jinx felt more and more of her bones being crushed and her screams became more like animalistic shrieks. 

And on the last sickening impact, Robin could actually hear her bones break with a stomach churning crunch, as blood splattered everywhere. After that, Jinx was nearly silent, fading in and out of consciousness, her breathing increasingly labored and shallow. Raven taken to flooding her body with powerful energy in an attempt to keep the broken girl both alive and awake, in order to maximize her suffering; thus was her rage at Jinx.

“Raven, that’s enough!” Robin called out to her again. And again, Raven held off as she looked about the scene. Then her eyes beheld the ruins of the warehouse which Beast Boy had earlier demolished, and noticed a nearly inconspicuous piece of rebar sticking several feet into the air. And when she saw it, her demonic visage grinned a most sickening grin. Robin saw it too, and when he realized what she was about to do, he pleaded with her.

“Oh, God; Raven please no!” But he was in no position to stop her. As Jinx lay slipping into the sweet embrace sleep, the world around her began to blur as her peripherals started to go dark. Then she felt herself being lifted into the air again and suddenly she was jolted back to a semi-alert state. She was half delirious from unimaginable pain by that point, but still aware enough to beg for her life.

“No, please, Raven; no more” she spoke in a hushed, hoarse voice, as she no longer possessed the strength to scream. Slowly she was hovered until she was just over the rubble, then as if in slow motion, as the other Titans cried for her to stop, she slammed Jinx directly into the rebar until it punctured through her body, flesh, muscle and bone altogether, until she was fully impaled with a sickeningly squishing sound. 

Jinx briefly grabbed for the rebar which had been forced through her body, giving out only feeble shrieks and moans until she went completely limp, as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, blood dripping down from her body and down the rebar. And Raven left her to dangle like a limp piece of meat as an example to anyone who dared to defy her demonic fury as she hovered before her fellow Titans in all her monstrous rage. 

“Why, Raven. Why.” Was all Robin could think to say. None of the other Titans spoke; they were far too horrified and shocked to. Suddenly, Raven was blasted in the face by green eye beams, which sent her reeling, before Starfire slammed into her as hard as she could, screaming in a righteous fury as she slammed the demonic Raven into the ground with all the force she could muster. She did it so hard in fact, that it actually rocked the ground out from the other Titans and left a crater several feet deep. It was a brutal act all its own, but she had succeeded in knocking Raven out.


	10. Chapter 10

Cyborg sat in silence at the edge of the scene. He just gazed off into the fading light of the setting sun, the day coming to an end much like a chapter in a book. But if this was to be the closing chapter of their story had yet to be seen. He sat unmoving in complete and utter shock. He even seemed unfazed by the dull electrical sensation coming off of the stump of his severed arm. He still couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed; his mind just felt so… overwhelmed.

But no matter how many times he played the scene over and over in his head, he just couldn’t believe that Raven could be so ruthless. Not his Raven, not by a long shot. Something had to be wrong with her, terribly wrong. And so he became stuck in a feedback loop, between seeing Raven do unspeakable things and not believing Raven capable of such things. And he was unable to reconcile the conflict, no matter how hard he tried.

Behind him, the scene was littered by emergency services, who had already rushed to cordon off the area from the flurry of media which had predictably descended. Of course, Amanda Waller’s agents were already on hand to cover up the grizzly details about what had actually happened. Instead, the press was fed the usual story about a routine super hero, super villain fight; or about as normal as something like this could be anyways. 

Beast Boy was still there, but he was filled to the brim with a withering storm of conflicting emotions, there was rage over how poorly the fight had gone, and hurt and confusion over having just witnessed Raven destroy the HIVE, particularly Jinx, amongst other thoughts and feelings. He paced nervously up and down the scene, kicking rocks and other debris as he went. His mind was heavy with a thousand thoughts moving a million miles an hour, but his body felt nauseous and light; he actually felt that he may vomit at any moment.

Starfire was conspicuously absent, having quickly removed Raven from the scene and took her to the med bay within the tower before Waller, or anyone else decided to do anything with her. Then there was Robin. He stood at the epicenter of the whole scene, arguing with Zatanna.

“No, you can’t take Raven away! She’s a member of my team, which makes her my responsibility!” He yelled.

“And what if it’s decided that she should be punished for what she did today. Would you still be willing to take that responsibility then?!” Zatanna shouted back. “She’s a loose cannon, Robin; and you have no idea what she’s fully capable of. Today was only a taste. She’s fully capable of much worse! She is a demon, Robin; a monster!”

“She’s a Titan, godammit! And anything else is inconsequential, do you hear me?!” Robin pointed out, a tone of finality hanging on his every word. Zatanna finally realized that the discussion had passed from civil long ago, and that continuing it any further could only damage the vital relationship between the Justice League and the Teen Titans at a time when it should at its strongest.

“Look, Robin. I get that you really care for her. I mean I get it, I really do; it’s sweet. But look, kid; you’re delving into the magical realm without a guide, and that can be far more dangerous then you probably realize. And Raven isn’t a normal magic wielder either. She’s the daughter of one of the most powerful, fearsome beings who has ever existed. That means she wields unimaginable power. And I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you guys because you got in over your head, okay? Besides,” Zatanna continued, “I suspect the magical guardians would probably side with you anyway. So just be careful, kid. Okay?” Robin was at a loss for words, so he just shook his head in the affirmative instead. With that, Zatanna tousled his hair a little bit, before she turned and walked away. Though he very much doubted that this would be the last they spoke on the subject. And as he looked away from her, he watched the medics carrying away the HIVE. Curious, he turned back to Zatanna. He hated to ask her any questions because he felt it only validated her belief in his magical ignorance, even tough in many ways she was right.

“What did Raven do to them?” He asked. Turning, she looked at the HIVE before she gazed at him.

“She shattered their psyches, that essential part of what makes them, them. Without it, they’re empty shells. It’ll be years before we’re able to put all the pieces back together again, if we’re able to do so at all. It would have been infinitely more painful and traumatic then you could ever possibly imagine. In many ways, it is a fate worse than death. And Jinx? I had to use powerful magic just to keep her alive, but I can’t keep it up forever; without that magic, she’ll die, Robin. Technically she should already be dead.” She said before she left him where he stood. 

And Robin was left to stew in his thoughts. He put his arms around himself, toying with the bandages that were wrapped around his own injuries. He actually felt quite vulnerable without the upper half of his destroyed uniform. Dejected, he walked over to Cyborg, taking a seat next to him. They sat in silence before Robin finally spoke.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know anymore.” the metal man answered, voice barely audible above a whisper. At that point Robin felt stuck. He thought that lingering there at the docks was only proving toxic on all their emotions. But the alternative of returning to the tower seemed no less an appetizing prospect to stomach. And yet Robin couldn’t quite articulate a problem which had just started to bother him, even as it lay there on the tip of his tongue. 

Even as he himself replayed the incident over in his mind, something was bothering him, though he couldn’t yet grasp it yet. Jinx did say something about Raven’s secrets, and that was definitely something he wanted to follow up on, but something else was nagging him. At any rate, returning to the tower, come whatever may, seemed to be all but unavoidable. 

“Well, I think we better get back to the tower and…” Robin started but couldn’t finish; he was confident that Cyborg could put the rest of the thought together on his own anyways. “Well, you coming?” He asked. Cyborg was silent for awhile, his unblinking eyes staring off into the coming darkness.

“Yeah.” He said after awhile. Turning to Beast Boy, Robin reached out and grabbed his shoulder as he passed by.

“You coming, Beast Boy?” He asked. But Beast Boy quickly winced in pain and forced his hand from his shoulder before backing away a few feet. 

“Dude, get off me! Just don’t…” he blurted out, his voice unsteady, tears streaming down his eyes. Robin couldn’t bring himself to say anything more. He just gave Beast Boy a knowing nod before he walked off. Of course he’d forgotten about Beast Boy’s own injuries, both the physical and the psychological, and felt all the worse for it.

After they entered the Tower, the pair proceeded straight for the med bay. Starfire was already there, attending to Raven as best as she could, but at that point Cyborg had to take over. Starfire had actually banged Raven up pretty good. Her whole body had been beaten and bruised, owing to the alien princess’ sheer physical strength, and in fact Robin was sure Raven would have died from the force of Starfire’s blows if she were a normal human being; but it was Raven’s demonic side which had allowed her to absorb the damage as she had. And since demonic physiology was also well beyond even Cyborg’s skill set as a healer, he couldn’t be fully sure with Raven’s prognosis. 

He did know that Raven’s own body would heal itself and recover far faster than anything he could do for her on his own, but it was Raven psychological troubles which concerned them the most. She was drained as she seemed to have pushed herself past the point of exhaustion. She was also suffering through chronic sleep deprivation, and it was clear that something was haunting her, and Robin was starting to gain a sense as to what may have caused her all those sleepless nights; Brother Blood. 

It was something he had never revisited in his own mind, but Brother Blood did bear a striking resemblance to Raven, and he even seemed to share in her powers. He had intentionally been avoiding the issue because of the possible ramifications of how it all related to Raven, but it seemed well past the point of him revisiting it now. He had hoped to be able to deal with Brother Blood on his own in order to risk involving Raven and the others, but after all that had happened, he no longer felt this was possible.

“Does Raven have any brothers?” He suddenly asked seemingly out of the blue. Starfire and Cyborg seemed highly surprised by his question.

“Raven is… secretive. She hides the secrets as well as you. Never has she mentioned family to me.” Starfire said. But Cyborg seemed to think on the question a bit more.

“You know, we don’t actually know a lot about her. We probably wouldn’t even have known about her father had Trigon not decided to introduce himself. There’s no telling if she has Brothers or not. But you know her better than any of us, Rob. I’m sure if she had any brothers, you’d have known about it.” Cyborg commented, though it did little to alleviate Robin’s suspicions. “Why’d you ask anyways?”

Suddenly Raven shot straight up from her hospital bed, breathing hysterically, dark energy swirling all around her as she fell from the bed. All around them medical instruments and pieces of furniture and equipment suddenly started circling the room as her powerful influence over the space around herself spread. Suddenly feeling a wave of agoraphobia grip her, she quickly crawled to the far corner of the room and hid under some cabinets as she desperately tried to hide herself. As her heightened sense of panic engulfed her, her powers fluctuated so heavily that the tower itself began to tremble, her energy reverberating through its structure. As Starfire and Cyborg looked on, unsure of what to do themselves, Robin rushed to her side, trying to calm the frantic girl. 

“Raven, calm down! It’s me!” He said, but to no avail. She flailed her arms desperately to keep him at bay, dark energy swiping at him hard and flooring him, though Cyborg was quick to pick him back up. And before he could do anything further, Raven disappeared behind a flash of crackling dark magic and smoke. Damn, he thought; she had teleported herself. Though based on her greatly weakened condition, it seemed unlikely that she could manage to leave the island. He also realized the importance of calming the frantic girl before she did something else she’d come to regret, which made finding her all the more urgent.

“Titans, she’s gotta be in the tower; go!” he yelled, the others seeming to be in agreement. Starfire left to tower to fly around the island. Meanwhile, Cyborg took the elevator to search the hanger bay and the lower levels. That left Robin to fly up the stairs to search the upper levels. As he burst through the doors of the common area, he heard a commotion coming from the kitchen. It was Beast Boy, and he seemed to be arguing with someone.

“What is wrong with you, Mama?! What’d you do to the HIVE!” he berated.

“Don’t come any closer! Just leave me alone!” She cried, her voice thick with panic. It was Raven’s voice! Realizing that Beast Boy likely wasn’t queued into Raven’s frantic state, he had no idea that he was playing with fire!

“Beast Boy, Wait!” Robin cried as he rushed across the common room, jumping over the couch but not quite making it. But Beast Boy either didn’t hear him or else he was ignoring him.

“Or else what, you’ll do me like the HIVE, huh?! Answer me, Raven!” Beast Boy screamed, his voice seething with raw rage. Robin picked himself up from where he fell and ran into the kitchen just in time to see the end of the Teen Titans.

“I said Leave Me ALONE!!!” Raven shrieked, the demonic fury awoken once more within her. And she burst into red hot flames, the fire licking the ceiling and rapidly spreading beyond. And, just as suddenly as the fire had begun, a fiery column suddenly lashed out at Beast Boy. He narrowly managed to escape the brunt of the impact, but his arm was unfortunately still in the path of the flames. The arm of his uniform quickly went up, the fire rapidly burning right through into his skin. He shrieked and cried shrill cries of pain as he struggled to put out his flaming arm. Robin quickly went for the fire extinguisher which was hanging on the wall by the TV and moved quick to quell the flames, even as Beast Boy continued to shriek. By that point the fire alarm had sounded, and the fire sprinklers in the room were activated, but Raven’s demonic flames burned far too hotly to be so easily extinguished. Suddenly, Cyborg rushed into the room.

“Get Beast Boy outta here! Take him to the med bay!” He yelled once he had surveilled the scene. As Robin carried Beast Boy to the elevator, he watched as Cyborg’s one remaining arm turned into a fire extinguisher as he rushed to fight the flames. Once they had reached the med bay, Robin acted quickly to drop Beast Boy onto one of the beds. But Beast Boy was in so much pain that Robin couldn’t get him to hold still. Thankfully, Starfire came through the door, thoroughly horrified at what she was seeing.

“What has happened?!” She shrieked, observing the agony Beast Boy was in, though Robin didn’t have the heart nor the time to tell her.

“Just grab him and hold him down, Star!” he yelled instead, thankful for any help he could get. And as she held him down, Robin finally managed to cut away the burned remains of his uniform and get direct access to the injury itself. It was a third degree burn, as Robin was afraid of. So he did the only thing he knew to do, which was to lightly clean the wound wherever he could and begin wrapping fresh, dry gauze all over the arm in order to protect it until proper treatment could be given. As he was finishing up, Beast Boy seemed to have calmed a little, though he was still in agonizing pain.

“Don’t worry about it Beast Boy; we can fix this. Maybe Raven can even-“

“Oh, fuck no, bro! There’s no fuckin’ way! That’s it! Either she’s off the team, or I am!” Beast Boy screamed hoarsely, intentionally cutting Robin off once he heard her name. Robin was shocked, and at a loss for words at that point.

“Wha… that is, uh.. I, uh…” was about all he could get out. All the while Starfire also held her tongue, no doubt at a loss for words herself. A profound look of hurt and disappointment sprawled its way across Beast Boy’s face.

“Oh, I see.” Was all he said, and the conversation gave way to a most uncomfortable silence. Once Cyborg returned to properly treat Beast Boy’s wounds, Robin left. As he went, he gave Cyborg a knowing glance that alerted him to Beast Boy’s decision. And as he walked away, Cyborg already seemed to know where he was heading. Starfire elected to stay in the med bay, sensing it was best to give Robin his space for whatever came next.


	11. Chapter 11

Robin was on the verge of a mental break down, as he sat on what was left of the couch in the ruined and slightly smoking common room. Things were falling apart all around him. The team seemed to only be drifting further and further apart with each passing day, not to mention all the physical damage the tower had recently sustained. And then there was Raven. Raven seemed to be spiraling dangerously out of control, and no matter how hard he tried, he seemed wholly unable to stop it and bring her back. 

He found that she had been increasingly on his mind more and more, especially over these last few days. True, certain incidents not withstanding, he began to wonder if perhaps there was more to it then all of this. He felt he would go through great lengths for any member of his team, but it was starting to dawn on him that he was going well above and beyond for her. Was it so surprising though? After all, they were the most alike of any of the other members on the team. More than that, they also shared a special psychic link with each other. She had literally seen inside his mind and glimpsed his most closely guarded secrets, secrets which she now kept within herself as well. Besides, he’d literally gone to hell and back for her. 

Though he was exhausted, he’d let his mind dwell on these thoughts for hours longer then he’d actually meant to. They were thoughts which brought him some semblance of happiness, which he felt he sorely needed to keep him going, all things considered. He still hadn’t finished with Brother Blood after all. He was greatly surprised, then, when Beast Boy passed him by on his was to the elevator, having seemingly just left his bedroom. This startled Robin, as he didn’t even remember Beast Boy passing him by earlier as he headed to his room. Though what startled Robin even more than his inattention, was the duffle bag Beast Boy was carrying on his non-injured side.

Immediately, Robin rushed down the stairs to the hanger bay. Once he burst through the doors, he found that Cyborg and Starfire were already there, trying to talk him out of leaving.

“Please, friend Beast Boy, won’t you reconsider?” Starfire sniffed, barely holding back tears.

“Yeah, man. It won’t be the same here without you.” Cyborg chimed in. But Beast Boy didn’t look swayed, not even in the slightest.

“Nah, bro. I’m done being treated like a fifth wheel! And I’m tired of always having to tip toe around Raven! After all she’s done and she still gets a place on the team?! No way! Maybe the Doom Patrol will take me back!” He yelled as he began to walk out of the tower.

“Beast Boy, Wait!” Robin called after him, but to no avail. Before long he had turned himself into a bird, and he was gone, flying off into the sun set. Immediately the whole atmosphere of the tower seemed to sink as Robin gazed at the crestfallen expressions worn by the other Titans. He held little doubt that his own face betrayed much the same sentiment. Admittedly, Beast Boy may not have taken some things as seriously as he probably could of. But being called upon to shoulder the burdens that other, seemingly more normal people were unable to was often taxing work which demanded sacrifice. 

And yet somehow, he had made it through all of the trials and tribulations relatively unscathed, until recently. He had made himself the lighthearted, humorous soul of the team, which had helped keep them grounded when the more serious aspects of their work became too great a burden to bear. In those dark times, he was the chipper face which brought the light back into their worlds through his humor and ability to laugh freely and heartily about anything and everything, even himself. But with his departure, the Titans could feel the soul of the team wither away, leaving them vulnerable to the darkest aspects of what lay ahead, as well as the tension which was dramatically increasing all around them. 

But it seemed to be Robin who took his departure the hardest, and seemingly the most personally to heart. To him, he felt that it highlighted his failure as a leader. He had failed his team and himself. He was even beginning to contemplate his place as the leader of the team. Maybe they’d better off with someone, anyone else, anyone more capable. So he sat down and let the torrent of emotions wash over him, until the tears came to his eyes. Starfire came up to him and began rubbing his back.

“Robin, things will be okay. You’ll see.” She said, though she seemed very unconvinced of this herself. Cyborg, meanwhile, seemed frozen where he stood. The color seemed to have drained from his face, and his eyes seemed unfocused and almost lost as he stared off into nothing at all. Then Robin felt the sting of defeat wash over him. He was suddenly hit with a profound sense of hopelessness and even dread about the future. It made him shudder even contemplating it. Then he began to consider how strange these thoughts were, as they felt so foreign to him.

Suddenly, the most excruciating pain he’d ever experienced tore through the center of his forehead, causing him to jerk violently until he landed on the floor, doubled over in pain. 

“Robin! What is the matter!” Starfire cried, as Cyborg seemed to return to himself, making his way over to where Robin lay. 

The pain, the pain, Robin thought! Where did it come from?! It felt like it was hovering on the edge of his consciousness rather then something he was actually experiencing; but that was only possible if…

“Oh no!” He blurted out as he shot up from where he lay and ran to the elevator, Starfire calling after him as Cyborg struggled with what was happening. But the elevator wasn’t coming quick enough, so he took to the stairs. He moved as quickly as his feet could physically carry him as he practically flew up the stairs, pushing himself harder and harder. Once he had finally reached the berthing hall, he flew down the hall until he came to her room.

Thankful that her room no longer had a door, as it had been blown free of its frame the last time he was there, he quickly entered into the destroyed room. Raven’s wrecked possessions lay strewn about the ruined room, seemingly untouched since the last time he was there. In fact, the only thing which was new about the room was a large piece of plastic, taped over the shattered window to keep the elements at bay, though a piece of it seemed to be missing. Frantically, he looked around the room for any sign of Raven, but didn’t find any. So he burst open her closet door and desperately dug through it looking for any sign of her, but again she was no trace of her. Backing out of the closet, he noticed her bathroom door was shut, and a feeling of ominous dread washed over him.

He hadn’t realized until then that he had intentionally skipped that particular door, as a part of him felt far too afraid of what he may find on the other side. But now he had no choice. He quickly made his way to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. 

“Raven! Raven, can you hear me?!” He cried, his emotions already rising to The surface. He didn’t even bother waiting for an answer; immediately he backed up and hit the door with all the force he could muster, but it didn’t come down. So he hit it again and again until he had successfully forced his way into her bathroom.

“No! No no no no No No NO NO NO!!!” He shrieked frantically.

It was hot, steam still hanging in the air. And there lay Raven, in the bath tub, soaking in her own blood. She had intentionally shattered her own chakra, the blood pouring out all over her face. For added effect, she had also slit both wrists wide open with the straight razor still dangling in one hand. And for good measure, she had taken a piece of the plastic from her window and wrapped it around her whole head, tying it off tightly about her throat. Raven had given up.

The shock still flushing through his system, Robin pulled her from the bath, blood soaking him thoroughly, as he took the razor and cut the plastic from her head. Shaking hysterically, he held her up to his ears, but he neither heard nor felt any breathing. He was going to take a pulse from her wrist when he ultimately realized the futility of doing so. 

So instead he just pulled her into a tight embrace as the tears rocked his body and his heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. Behind him he could hear the others finally catching up to him. He heard Starfire give out shrill cry before she collapsed from the shock. And when Cyborg saw what was waiting in Raven’s bathroom, he quickly looked away before he fell to his knees and started crying hysterically. Thus the Teen Titans were broken, the strain having become too much a burden to bear.


	12. Chapter 12

His whole world had collapsed. Beast Boy’s sudden departure tore him up inside enough as it was, but Raven… he couldn’t even finish that train of thought at the risk of opening the flood gates and releasing a another torrent of his pain again. He wouldn’t be able to stand it if he did, as he felt thoroughly emotionally drained enough as it was; he just couldn’t stomach a second storm of emotions. Instead his mind fell into an endless cycle of eternal ‘what ifs’. What if he’d gotten there sooner; what if he’d reached out to her earlier in the day; what if he’d been there for her earlier, rather than focusing so much on that fucking case; what if he’d let her in on the case. It just went on and on.

Slowly, he turned and looked over to the others. Starfire had hidden her face in her hands, and hadn’t look up for hours. She hadn’t even moved since then, the pain of losing so many close friends so suddenly seeming to overwhelm her. Cyborg was facing the wall opposite the med bay, and had leaned his head against it, not saying a word and not moving much himself. Robin wished he could say something profound to rally the remaining team, or at least provide them some sense of comfort, but he felt he’d failed them enough as a leader as it was. In fact he was already considering potential replacements for himself.

It was a while before Zatanna left the med bay, but when she did, she suddenly had the full attention of the whole team, or what was left of it. She moved painfully slowly, and didn’t seem to want to look any of them in the eyes. Not a good sign, thought Robin. So Robin stood before her, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak; he was too afraid of the potential answers he may receive. For her part, Zatanna looked as though she wanted to say something, but couldn’t get the words out. It was Cyborg who finally breached the difficult subject.

“So…” was all he could get out, and even this lone word was barely audible. Zatanna took in a deep breath and seemed to contemplate her response before she finally spoke.

“Well, it’s complicated. In a sense, in a very real sense, she’s… gone.” The air was suddenly sucked from the room. Cyborg seemed to collapsed in on himself. Starfire burst into tears and fled, but where she was going was anyone’s guess. As for Robin, he just fell back into his chair. He was speechless; he had hoped…

“There’s nothing we can do? There’s nothing you… ” Robin pleaded. But Zatanna shook her head.

“I guess the only thing you could do is treat her physical wounds, but as far as… well, the nearest human explanation would be like comparing her current state to brain death. Her body won’t decay, per say, but…” there’s nobody home, he finished thinking in his head, as it fell into his hands.

“I’m sorry, Robin.” She muttered as she quickly left. Robin felt the whole weight of everything that had happened break the last ounce of his will. He felt weak, as weak as he had felt when… he tried to focus away from the tight rope and the fall. Not that it mattered. He was done, his raison d’être fleeing from the remnants of his shattered heart. But as he looked to Cyborg, he could feel that Cyborg felt the recent losses all the more acutely. Cyborg looked pale, exhaustion hovering over him. But more than anything else, he just looked lost. He just stood there, unmoving and unblinking, his one human eye unfocused yet fixed and looking straight ahead. Suddenly, he turned and headed for the elevator, and all at once Robin knew that the Titans were losing yet another member. Not he could blame him, thought Robin.

But before anything else, Robin went to see Raven. She looked so peaceful where she lay. Bandages were wrapped around her forehead and both wrists. Zatanna hadn’t even bothered to hook Raven up to any of their medical devices. After all, what would have been the point; Raven had no pulse and didn’t seem to be breathing. Instead she just lay there, silent and still like she was frozen in time. All Robin could do was squeeze her hand and kiss her cheek, as he leaned in to her ear.

“I miss you, Raven. So much.” He whispered, fighting back his tears. With nothing more to be done for her, he went to the elevator and rode it down to the hanger bay for yet another good bye. As he arrived in the hanger bay, Starfire was already hugging Cyborg; they were both shaking and openly weeping.

“I understand.” He heard Starfire whisper to Cyborg as he walked up to them. He didn’t even have to say anything. Once Cyborg had freed himself from Starfire’s embrace, he looked to Robin.

“I… just need time.” Was all he said. And Robin understood. So he gave Cyborg a nod, which he returned as he threw his own duffle bag into the T-Car. Slowly, he fired up the car and put it in gear. And with that, he too was gone. Starfire started weeping again, before she turned and went to the elevator. And Robin was left to his own thoughts. How long before she leaves too, he thought bitterly. His team was effectively gone, having disintegrated before his very eyes. So he sat there, in the hanger for hours, just to be alone with his thoughts for awhile. 

It was later in the day before he rode the elevator up to the common room, where he found Starfire sprawled out on the ruined couch. She was sleeping. So he took a seat next to her. As he sat down, Starfire seemed to stir, moving and placing her head in his lap. And as he absent-mindlessly stroked her hair, she started weeping in his lap. Neither one of them had the strength to say anything, so they just sat in silence for a few moments and let the twilight of the Team’s best years lead them behind.

BANG!!! And with a flash of radiating dark magic, the couch, and them along with it, was suddenly overturned. And before either of them could act, they were overran by figures dressed only on dark robes; two on Starfire, and two on Robin. Once they were more or less secured, they were both made to kneel before a fifth hooded figure; Brother Blood. He lowered his own hood, ruby chakra and amethyst eyes proudly on display. Starfire could be heard audibly gasping. He looked them both over, First Robin, then Starfire. 

“We meet again, little Robin. And what this; a Tamaranian? Oh, Robin; how quaint.” He said as he removed his utility belt. He examined the belt and its contents before he looked back to Robin. “Where do you get all these wonderful toys.” He asked, though he looked to Starfire as he spoke. Enraged, Starfire lunged at him, but the others held her back. “Tsk tsk, little troq.” He said to her, which stirred her anger even further. Then Brother Blood looked to the other hooded figure before he began to pace the common room.

“So Pride thought her pathetic suicide attempt would stop us, did she? The little fool. But no matter.” He said, seemingly talking to no one in particular. ‘Pride?’ Robin thought; did he mean Raven?

Suddenly the sixth hooded member of their cadre appeared, having teleported himself from some separate place. “Ah, so good of you to join us, Wrath. Tell, did you find it, Brother?” Wrath smiled a wicked smile, as he held a small, wet pelican case before him. Opening the case, he withdrew its contents, a large red crystal, before discarding the case itself. Of course, Robin thought! The pelican case! Brother Blood must have lost it that night at the docks! So that’s what he sent the HIVE to search for! Brother Blood seemed very pleased. “Excellent! Now we can bring Trigon’s reign upon this pathetic realm!” He said. That’s right, you son of a bitch; keep monologging, thought Robin; tell me what you’re planning! After examining the crystal, he looked to one of the other boded figures. “Greed, do be a lamb and go collect our sister dearest.” He directed. With a smile, Greed left Robin to the other hooded figure as he turned to the stairs.

“No! Don’t you touch her!” Robin threatened. But Brother Blood merely smiled at him.

“Or what, you’ll-”

“YOU!!!” Starfire suddenly interjected from where the hooded figures were holding her, quickly drawing Brother Blood’s attention. “So you’re the one who caused Raven the agony! I am going to break each and every ONE OF YOU!!!” She screamed, her fury moving to the forefront.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of green, and within a fraction of a second the hooded figures were thrown from her, glass and fragments of metal flying about them. 

“Damn.” Was all Brother Blood could say before he disappeared in a flash, Starfire having landed a punch directly aimed at his face.


	13. Chapter 13

The whole tower shook with the fury of the battle which was being raged just beyond its walls. Robin scrambled through the hallway, on his way to the med bay, the lights at times flickering enough to obstruct his vision. Even as he ran, he occasionally stumbled and was rocked about by the shaking. Suddenly he was floored by a hard impact, which was followed by the grating sound of someone being forced through all the layers and the walls of the tower itself. Pieces of the ceiling began to bombard him as cracks formed on the floor and walls all around him. He looked on in horror as the cracks grew together and spread, large chunks of concrete and metal beginning to fall through them. Whatever the course of the battle between Starfire and Brother Blood and his entourage, they were literally bringing the whole tower down around him! 

Realizing the eminent danger he found himself in, he finally entered the med bay just as the room began to split in half. Jumping from his half of the room to the half where Raven lay, he quickly picked up the girl and turned about just as his half of the medical bay began to fall. Running, he just barely made it back to the steady half of the tower as the medical bay fell into the floor below it. But the floor below couldn’t withstand the added weight, so it too collapsed, creating a chain reaction as that entire half of the tower gave way, evening sunlight beginning to peak in to where the absent floors had once stood. Taking his cue, he dashed from the scene with Raven in his arms as he made his way to the stairs. 

As he ran through the hanger bay on his way out of the tower, the roof of the hanger behind him finally seemed to give way. It took all the strength which he still possessed to get out of harms way as he finally left the hanger and the tower behind him. But the ground shook so hard that he tumbled down the hill, until he lay facing the tower, Raven conveniently landing in his lap. So he looked on as the upper cross section of the tower fell away, while the main part of the structure fell straight down, the walls falling inward to add to the wreckage as it went. And the place which had been their home for years was gone.

But before he could do anything else, suddenly something came hurdling back to the earth at a steep angle not far from him. It struck with a crash which seemed to rock the whole island, and kept moving across the ground, leaving an impact trench several feet deep in its wake. As Robin picked up Raven and made his way to the impact zone, he was horrified to find Starfire at the center of it; she had been knocked unconscious! And he fell to his knees at the six darkly hood figures landed all around him, having suddenly found himself at their mercy. Each of them looked none too well themselves and all of them seemed to have been winded, so at least it could be said that Starfire had nearly given as good as she got.

“That…” Brother Blood began, breaking the eerie silence that had pervaded the scene as he seemed to catch his own breath, “was wholly unnecessary, gentleman!” He scolded. “You had but one task, one simple task; to keep the Torq contained! But you couldn’t even handle that! So help you all when father arrives!” He threatened. The others seemed at a loss for words. Robin just waited for the other shoe to fall. Brother Blood looked to one of the others.

“Greed, take our sister dearest to the ceremonial site. Can I trust there to be no further interruptions?!” He asked the group.

“No, Lust.” Came their unanimous reply. Lust… that explained a lot to Robin. When he had first faced this figure, his presence had elicited a strange feeling within Robin which he couldn’t place. But in that moment it made sense; what he’d felt that night was a surge of lust, but also revulsion as he held no attraction to the dark figure before him. The seven deadly sins! There were six of them, with each seeming to possess a name associated with one of the deadly sins, and they had referred to Raven as Pride! But what was the connection to Trigon? 

His chain of thought was interrupted though, and as he looked on as Greed approached them, he gripped Raven and refused to let her go. So Greed swiped at him with the tendrils of his dark magic. And within the blink of an eye, Robin was suddenly flying through the air, where he landed ad rolled, even as he turned about to face Greed. But as he looked on, Greed had already taken Raven and was walking back to join the others. Enraged, he went for one of his birdarangs, until he realized that Lust had earlier disarmed him. Shit, Robin thought. Out of other options, he ran at the group, only to be swatted away just as easily. 

“Wrath, would you be so kind as to put little Robin out of his misery?” Lust asked one of the others. Wrath grinned a wicked grin as he stepped away from the group, just as they vanished beyond a flash of dark magic and smoke, taking Raven with them. Thus Robin was left alone to his fate. Realizing he stood no chance as he was tired, beaten and unarmed, Robin simply stood and stared down his would be executioner with the hardest glair he could muster from behind his mask, eyes wide open and facing his enemy. After all, it was better to die on his feet then to live on his knees, he thought. And once Wrath stood before him, Robin promptly spit in his face. Wrath simply winced and wiped the spit from his face before he pushed Robin away with the force from his dark magic. 

Robin tumbled hard, the wind being knocked from him as he landed. He took a few sharp breaths to re-compose himself as he attempted to stand, but he found he was unable to. So he just glared up at Wrath as he made his way over to him.

“Robin, no!” Cried a shrill voice which he was only vaguely familiar with. Confused, he turned around and saw the small girl with the messy brown hair run up the hill to him.

“Mary?!” He called out, only just remembering her name. What was she doing here?! Little Mary jumped on him where he lay, seeming to attempt to shield his body with her tiny frame.

“Stay behind me!” She yelled as Robin looked up at her. What the hell was this small child thinking?! She was either the bravest person he’d ever met, or else the most fool hearty. And as he watched, she seemed to be concentrating on something, though what it was he couldn’t be sure; and just as Wrath towered over them, it looked as though she was beginning to say something, when suddenly she went flying through the air. Wrath laughed a cruel laugh as he sent the helpless child flying far, far away and over the cliff edge of the island.

“No!” Robin cried, rage seething through him. That was enough! This had end now! Without thinking, he kicked hard at Wrath’s shins. Wrath reeled in surprise and pain before he struck down at Robin, catching him across his face so hard that he began to split blood. Somewhere behind them, a powerful bolt of lightning seemed to strike, as if added for dramatic emphasis, even though the darkening sky was as clear as day.

“This has gone on long enough!” Seethed Wrath as he picked Robin up by the collar of his uniform. “You will not enjoy this, but it shall be over quickly.” He said. Then he dropped Robin and looked beyond them. What was happening? Robin looked to Wrath, and couldn’t help but notice that he looked highly surprised, and maybe even a little afraid? 

BANG!!! Robin suddenly found himself at the bottom of a deep crater, left behind by the sheer impact of the force by which Wrath was struck; and just as suddenly, Wrath was gone. Robin felt the surge of electrical energy cackling all around him as a sharp wind blew across the crater like a sonic boom. Starfire had recovered rather quickly, and just in the nick of time, Robin thought, thankful for the sudden deus ex machina. 

“Robin?! Starfire called out to him as she suddenly peered over the edge crater. “Robin, how could you accomplish this?!” She asked, seemingly in awe at the powerful event. Wait, she was asking him? But if she hadn’t accomplished this shocking feat, then who had?!


	14. Chapter 14

A deep rumbling could be heard echoing through the air. It seemed to be emanating from the beach, just opposite the island, back on the mainland. And even as far away as they were, they could feel the rumbling reverberating through their bodies. As they looked on, they could only just see the the shockwaves of many powerful impacts, which were barely perceptible as they crashed above the sand.

“What is happening?!” Starfire asked as they watched this new battle unfold.

“I don’t know, Star.” He answered honestly, “But we better check it out. Can you fly?”

“I think so.” She said as she started hovering off the ground a few feet. Seemingly satisfied, she took ahold of his hands, and together they flew the short distance to the beach. As they got close to the fight, Starfire found the force of the many impacts crashing all around them to be too turbulent to fly through, so they lightly crashed into the sand below. From this close, the sandy ground under them shook wildly, the force from the impacts not far in the air rocking the ground with great force. 

The pounding in their chests was by then so strong that it actually shook their bodies. The air was electrified and crackled around them as if it were alive, causing their hair to start to stand out. Whatever was happening, Robin had never before seen power like this, and he’d be willing to bet that Starfire hadn’t either. Suddenly, with a great crash, a crater formed not far from them, knocking their feet out from under them. Rushing to the crater, they were greatly surprised to see Wrath at the bottom of it, even as the sea water flooded in. He had been beaten severely, breaths shallow and forced, as he reached out to them, seemingly in surrender. 

BANG!!! Another massive impact knocked them to the ground, but they managed to quickly return to the edge of the crater and peered down within. Wrath was gone again, with a massive trench stretching out and away from the crater’s center. But what interested them the most was the figure still in the crater, who seemed to be reeling from delivering the powerful blow. And, at last, they glimpsed the figure who had come to their rescue.

It was a girl with long, flowing brown hair, roughly their own age, and dressed similarly to Raven, though her colors were different. This new girl wore a red leotard style uniform with long red sleeves and a massive, glowing thunder bolt emblem running down most of the front of it. And over the top of this ensemble, she wore a white cloak, trimmed in gold. She even wore a pointed hood over her head, just as Raven did; only hers was white with gold trim to go with her cloak. This was topped off with thigh high white boots, which also seemed to possess gold trim along the tops of them.

And just as suddenly as she appeared to them, she was gone in a flash of lightning and the clap of thunder, followed by the sharp crack of a powerful sonic boom which reverberated almost electrically through the air, and forced them to the ground yet again. Even as fast as events were unfolding, Robin and Starfire were able to trace the events to the opposite end of the beach, where the rumble of battle seemed to have resumed. Starfire flew them to where the fight seemed to have moved.

“Who was that?” She asked. Robin remained silent, though he was quickly wondering if little Mary was behind all of this. As they approached the source of the rumbling, it quickly became that the battle was all but over. The new girl held Wrath’s head in one hand, while she struck down with incredible force upon his chakra with her other. Bang! Bang! Bang! The impacts echoed out, a massive and growing crater forming under where they hovered. The echoes of the impacts were joined by Wrath’s shrieks and cries at the excruciating pain which accompanied them. 

But the girl was unrelenting. She struck him again and again and with such violent force that Robin very much doubted that he could withstand very much more; but given all that had happened, he wasn’t feeling particularly merciful either. Instead, he looked on in silence as the girl struck him. Starfire, for her part really didn’t seem to mind much either. Finally, a massive crack could be heard as Wrath’s chakra splintered into pieces, blood pouring out from the wound and covering his face. At that point he fell silent. Then seemingly finished with him, the girl dropped him to the ground, where he fell with a sickening thud. Slowly, she lowered herself until she hovered just over his crumpled, defeated form. Slowly holding her arms up, she finally spoke.

“Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” She chanted, as Wrath’s body seemed to disintegrate into ashes which blew away in the wind, his energy flowing into his shattered chakra. Robin was greatly surprised to hear those words, as he thought that only Raven used them; hearing her mantra being repeated by a total stranger was unusual, to say the least. The whole ordeal seemed to be excruciatingly painful, as Wrath screamed a most animalistic shriek until his body had dissolved completely. All that was left behind was his shattered chakra, floating before the girl. 

At which point she reached out and took the gem in her hand, raising it to her eye and inspecting it. Though greatly unsure of the situation, but not feeling particularly threatened, Robin and Starfire slowly approached the girl. Starfire seemed more interested in meeting this new hero then Robin did; a strong sense of caution and paranoia inherited from his former mentor not withstanding. Robin didn’t quite know what to expect, but her attention seemed to be so completely consumed by the chakra in her hands that she didn’t even seem to notice them as they approached her. In fact, it took Starfire to break the ice.

“Um,” was all she could get out. Suddenly the girl seemed to snap back from her thoughts and stared at them both wide eyed. She seemed to consider them each at a time, first one then the other. It was the first time she had recognized their presence, which actually felt sort of strange to Robin for some reason. Suddenly, she raised on arm and seemed to direct it at them, hand outstretched. What followed was a brilliant flash of blinding white light, like looking directly at the sun, before everything suddenly went very dark. 

And before Robin’s eyes was a brilliant field of stars which seemed to stretch out in all directions, from horizon to horizon. The air around him felt light, and even somehow alive. It was also very quiet there, save for highly cosmic and mesmeronic tones which seemed almost disembodied and very nearly inaudible. He realized that he was having one of the strangest, most lucid dreams he could ever remember having, until he heard Starfire calling him. He struggled to open his eyes, until the realization that they were already open suddenly dawned on him. So he wasn’t dreaming after all! Sitting up, he saw Starfire making her way over to him.

“Where are we?” She asked. Robin looked at her confused.

“You’re the one from outer space, Star; shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” He pointed out. Starfire seemed to contemplate this for a moment, looking at the vast expanse before them before she gave him an answer.

“This place is… strange to me, Robin. There is a feeling In the air which I have not before felt. Never have I seen the night sky in an arrangement such as this. These constellations seem… unusual and unfamiliar. I have never seen this quadrant of space before.” She confessed, which did little to steel the nervousness which he was feeling. 

Looking around, they saw that either side of them was lined by massive, ancient monolithic stone columns of an architectural style that neither seemed familiar with. Equally strange was that they seemed to be holding up nothing, as the vast expanse above them was open to the cosmic sky. Behind them, the obsidian upon which they were standing seemed to go on into the dark horizon, with the massive columns lining it the whole way. The walk way itself seemed to be suspended in mid air, with nothing seemingly holding it up. 

And on one side not far from them, there appeared to be massive pedestals upon which once seemed to stand imposing statues, though the shattered remnants of these ancient statues were strewn all along the bases of the pedestals. As they walked by them, Robin counted the pedestals. Seven; there were seven of them. Up ahead of them the way seemed to elevate up to a large platform, with an imposing set of obsidian stairs being the only way up. As they reached the top of the stairs, they came to an open, circular platform, with seven massive thrones lining its precipice. And beyond that, far off in the distant horizon, but fully dominating the view of that quadrant of space was a massive dark rock.m

It was shaped much like a mountain, save for the fact that it hovered upside down, and stretched so far into the cosmic sky that it seemed to go on without end. And at the point of the colossal mountain was a bright, swirling center, from which a bright river of light seemed to be flowing. Truly, this place was built in a monumental scale, but still seemed to be designed around decidedly human dimensions. The only time Robin had ever seen anything remotely like this was when he glimpsed the inside of Raven’s mind. But this was somehow different. Though it was a voice from behind them which seemed to draw their attention away from their surroundings.

“Welcome, friends!” called a warm and cheery feminine voice. Startled by a sound so loud against the backdrop of cosmic silence, they turned about to see the strange girl standing not far behind them. Sensing their surprise and trepidation, she walked right up to them, pulling her hood down as she went.

“Who are you?” Starfire asked the girl, from which she received a friendly and welcoming smile.

“I’m Mary Marvel, and you must be Starfire.”

“I am indeed!” Starfire beamed, seeming to be more at ease with the friendly stranger.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Starfire! Robin, it’s good to see you again.” She said coyly, even giving him a wink. Starfire looked back at Robin confused, but all he could do was smile awkwardly and run his hand across the back of his neck. So this was little Mary after all. He didn’t even want to try to explain.

“And welcome, both of you, to the rock of eternity!” She said while holding her arms out in a wide, encompassing gesture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! So, where to begin. For starters, I decided to use the Ame-Comi version of Mary Marvel as inspiration when I described what she looked like, because I felt the official Canon version was kinda plain. You guys should google it so you know what I’m talking about.
> 
> Also, I know that the Rock of Eternity was featured in the Teen Titans Go! episode ‘little Elvis’, but I felt their version lacked in cosmic scale, so I gave it one.
> 
> Finally, if you want an idea what I had in mind for ‘cosmic and mesmeronic tones’, try looking up a track called ‘Adon-Hub’ from the Turok 2: Seeds of Evil original video game soundtrack on YouTube; that should give you some frame of reference.


	15. Chapter 15

“The rock of eternity?” Starfire asked. Mary Marvel answered in the affirmative.

“This has got something to do with magic, doesn’t it.” Robin asked dubiously. It had to be magic, the one thing he knew practically nothing about, even after all his time with Raven. Mary Marvel smiled that warm smile of hers at him.

“You silly boy, this is magic. Rather, it’s the source of all magic in the universe. Well, this universe anyways.”

“So the source of all magic is…on Earth?” Starfire said. But Mary merely shook her head.

“No, dear; we are not on Earth, or indeed any planet. We are separated from reality, at the place where time and space join together. All of this, all around you, is a glimpse of what used to be; when the universe was young. Needless to say, there’s much to explain about all of this, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s just leave it at that.”

“And you’re a magical guardian?” Robin asked.

“Yes, myself and all the other Marvels. It’s our job to safeguard magic, and keep dark forces at bay.” Mary Marvel practically beamed, seemingly proud of the work she did, even if not many people seemed to be aware of it. Thus was life, Robin thought; hero work was often a thankless job after all. But Robin also knew that ‘dark forces’ included Raven, which made him decide to be cautious and guarded with Mary. 

“But if that’s true, then why did you use Raven’s mantra earlier. Isn’t that a dark mantra?”

“It doesn’t quite work like that. Raven’s mantra carries little power on its own, as it’s not an incantation. It’s a tool Raven uses to focus her mind. Since I was dealing with containing dark magic, I felt using her mantra would help put me in the correct mindset. Besides, our powers are derived from opposite sides of the magical divide between good and evil; which is why our powers are noticeably different from each other’s. Let me show you.”

Then Mary walked away from them. She headed down the stairs to the walk way below, Robin and Starfire following along after her. She walked down the walk way a bit before she came to the seven pedestals. Standing before the fourth pedestal, she then pulled Wrath’s chakra, which she had at some point repaired, out from under her cloak and held it out before her. Before long, it started to glow, and began hovering before her, as she held her arms outstretched. And as the two Titans looked on in curiosity, the large stone pieces of the shattered statue began to reconstitute themselves, until an imposing, massive statue of a hideously grotesque and malformed monstrosity towered over them. And Robin finally understood.

“The seven deadly sins.” He said. Mary looked at him. Robin almost didn’t want to know, but he had to ask. “What happened here?” Mary seemed to think for a bit before she explained everything to him.

Not long ago, powerful agents of Trigon the Destroyer found their way to the rock of eternity. And though their power was limited once they arrived, they had the strength still to steal the seven deadly sins; powerful spirits of corruption which once wreaked havoc across the early universe, many eons ago. Trigon was one of a group of primordial, evil beings who had once dominated the early universe before Highfather and the New Gods banished them beyond a cosmic gate, into a dark and empty dimension, where they have been trapped ever since.

So Trigon had the seven deadly sins stolen, likely with the intention of using their power to open the gate. But for the powers of the seven deadly sins to be effectively channeled and harnessed required physical, living conduits. Though for reasons unknown, he initially chose only to spawn one of the sins; the most powerful of the lot, Pride. He only chose to spawn the others later on.

Of course, Mary was aware that Pride had instead been given the name of Raven from birth. Just as she was aware that Raven had already been used to crack open the gate to allow her father to renter the universe. This of course meant that she was aware that Raven had also forced Trigon back through the gate before he had regained his full power. Though it was unknown what Trigon’s sons were planning with Raven at that moment. But that didn’t answer Robin’s main concern.

“Raven is… gone, Mary,” He said, trying to hold back the torrent of negative emotions which swirled through him whenever he talked about it. But Mary seemed unconvinced.

“No, Robin; Raven is not gone.” Starfire perked up dramatically, and Robin felt his breath leave him at hearing this.

“Explain” He managed to say, while trying to hide his excitement.

“Well, her body, that is the human part of her is basically dead. But the demonic part of her essence lingers still, though it is fading, and fast. Our best chance at restoring her lies in reconstituting her demonic essence. Once this is done, we can attempt to rejoin it to her body, but it requires the use of powerful, primordial magic.” She said. “Though I feel that I have to warn you, it will be an extremely difficult and daunting task that I may not actually be able to accomplish.”

“But Zatanna said there was nothing she could do.”

“And she was right; there may not even be anything I can do. She probably didn’t want you to get your hopes up over nothing.”

“But you are saying there’s a chance.”

“Yes, Robin; it’s virtually negligible, but there is a chance.” That was all he needed to hear. Suddenly Starfire embraced him, flailing him all around as the news brought renewed life to her. Robin himself felt a rush of excitement that he hadn’t felt in weeks. He was getting his chance to put the team back together and save Raven; he was getting his chance at redemption! “So what do we have to do.”

“The path ahead will not be so easy. We are looking at only half of an intricate puzzle. If we are to figure out how to proceed, we need to glimpse the other half of this puzzle.”

“Okay, I’m in. How do we do it.” Robin volunteered. Mary looked him over for a bit.

“Easy, cowboy; you don’t even know what you’re volunteering for. You may not survive this.”

“Honestly, I think I’d rather not know the odds. Just so long as there’s a chance to bring Raven back. I don’t care about what happens to me.” There he went again; though he was confident he’d do anything for his team, he was again going above and beyond for her. And he was okay with that.

“Robin, I could undertake the dangers if you wish it.” Starfire told him. But he shook his head.

“No, Star; it’s gotta be me. As the leader, this is something that I have to do.” He lied. He knew his position as the leader of the team had very little to do with it. He just wanted to do this for Raven. “What do I have to do.” He said, turning to Mary.

“What you’ll have to do, is hold perfectly still.”

“Wait, wha-“

“AzarathMetrionZinthos!” Mary chanted quickly before Robin’s vision was overtaken by a powerful, blinding light before settling into complete and utter darkness.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Right; soooo, if you’ve made it this far into the story, then I gotta warn ya that this chapter temporarily departs the darkness of earlier chapters and gets... weird. Like, really really weird; but all will make sense by the end so just bear with me! Okey donkey; here we go!

His head was spinning through a void of complete and utter darkness. He found the whole experience nauseating, and it was actually making him very dizzy. 

“Oh, my head.” He quietly croaked, finding it very difficult to even speak. Raising a hand to his temple, he messaged it in the hopes of bringing some relief. As he did so, he began to reach out with his other senses to get a better idea of where he was. He was lying down, and the bed he was lying in was softer and more comfortable than his own. The room was cold, and eerily quiet. Though his head was still spinning, he found that it had settled enough for him to slowly open his eyes. It was dark in the room, the only source of light coming from the moonlight pouring through the window. 

But it was light enough for him to look up at the dark purple fabric which seemed to make up the upper half of a canopy bed. It was a strangely familiar bed. It was Raven’s bed! Sitting up quickly, he found that he was indeed laying in Raven’s bed, though as he looked around the room, he found that she was absent! As he looked, he took in all the furniture and magical items of her room, but noticed the runic writing on her walls that he had seen before she destroyed the room were missing. Also, the room itself showed no signs of the damage which he’d witnessed, so maybe Mary had sent him back in time? 

Wasting no time, he quickly sprang from the bed as he looked for Raven. Even if it was the past, he’d still be overjoyed to the verge of tears to see her okay once more. Not finding her in the room, he went straight to the bathroom, turning on the light as he went straight to the bathtub. Just seeing it brought back horrible memories. He trembled a little just remembering…. He didn’t even want to think about it. As he turned to leave the bathroom, he caught a glimpse of Raven in the bathroom mirror.

“Raven?!” He cried as he turned to the mirror. He didn’t know what surprised him more, that fact that when he talked, it was her voice that he heard; or the fact that the face which was staring back at him in the mirror was hers! He was Raven!!!

“WHAT THE FU-“ crash!!! The mirror before him exploded in a flash of dark magic, shards of glass flying all about. All the bathroom’s items were suddenly airborne as they too went flying all around the room. He quickly backed out of the room in a panic, looking over to the closet as he did so. Suddenly, he found himself assaulted by a whole closet’s worth of clothes flying at him with great force, until he was overwhelmed and buried under them. Then there was a banging on the bedroom door. Crawling out from under the clothes, he quickly walked over to the door. He could not be anymore confused, he thought; that is until he opened the door and was greeted by HIMSELF?!!

BANG!!! Went Raven’s bed as it was suddenly lifted up and slammed into the ceiling of the room, seeming to startle both himself and… himself. He gave the wrecked bed a cursory glance before looking back to… himself, just in time to hear… himself speak. This was so confusing.

“Uh, Raven; you okay?” the Robin standing before him asked. Robin… or rather Raven was breathing heavily, as he began to get a sense of the buzzing of the dark energy which was surrounding him. Closing his eyes and taking several breaths to calm himself, he finally opened his eyes and looked back at Robin.

“I’m fine, Robin.” He responded, putting an unusual emphasis on his own hero identity. Not wanting to drag on the weirdness of talking to… himself, he quickly slammed the door shut and locked it. Besides, he reasoned; that would be what she would have done anyway. As he turned around he suddenly saw Mary Marvel standing behind him. CRASH!!! Went the broken pieces of the bed, having suddenly been sent flying around the room.

“Don’t do that!” He yelled at Mary. She laughed at him until she could see how confused and uncomfortable he was.

“Sorry.” She said.

“WHA-“ he started to say until he saw the items on Raven’s dresser begin to levitate and vibrate. “What’s happening.” He finally asked once he had calmed himself.

“We need to see the other half of this puzzle before we can make our next move; but the only person who’s seen it is, or was Raven.”

“So you sent me back in time and PUT ME IN HER BODY?!” BANG!!! Went the items on the dresser, and even the dresser itself as they were slammed up into the ceiling. Again, Mary laughed until the walls of the room started fading into darkness. Suddenly she became very serious.

“Of course not; that would have been irresponsible. Besides I can’t do that anyways.”

“Then what have you done?” He asked.

“These are Raven’s memories; I’ve placed you inside of Raven’s memories.”

“How is that even possible?!”

“At times I am able to pierce the void and glimpse the Akashic records; you know, the universal records of everything that has ever happened. From them I pulled Raven’s memories of the last few months, then I placed you in them with the best possible vantage point; to see these events through Raven’s eyes.” Well, the more Robin thought about it, the more the whole crazy concept seemed to make sense; it was just going to take some getting used to. Suddenly the walls returned, the darkness which had replaced them quickly receding.

“And what’s up with that?” He asked, pointing at the walls.

“Well, you will have some control over Raven’s body while you’re here; though if you start to stray too far away from what actually happened, or from how Raven normally acts, the memories will start to fade.”

“You said this was dangerous; how is this dangerous?!” He asked.

“Because, everything Raven physically experienced in these memories, you’ll experience as well, but for real. Also, if you stray too far from her actions and the memories fade completely, you probably wouldn’t wake up as your mind would be destroyed.”

“What the?! That is not what I signed on for!” He complained.

“Technically it is; after all, I did try to warn you, but you were adamant that you didn’t want to hear about the risks.”

“So what now?”

“Just let the memories unfold before you. Also try not to act too much out of character. And mind your emotions; remember, Raven is a girl after all.”

“What does being a girl have to do with anything?”

“Well, girls are more in tune with their emotions, and raw emotions can be harnessed to amplify the power of magic; hence why girls are generally more capable spell casters than boys.”

“That’s so sexist.” Robin complained.

“No, it’s a fact. Now rest up; you’ve got a busy few months ahead of you.”

“A few months?! We don’t have that kind of time!”

“Exactly; time. And what you’ve got to realize about time is that time is relative. You’ll spend a few months in here, while only seconds will have passed for the rest of us. Look, just trust me on this.” Mary promised. So, muttering to himself, he found a comfortable spot on Raven’s be… mattress and tried to fall asleep. 

“So are you just gonna hang around here, or what?” He asked Mary. But as he rolled over to face her, he found that she was gone. Figures, he thought, before he drifted off.

He finally stirred awake when the sun finally slowly on him, the brightness becoming evident even with his… her eyes closed. So confusing, he thought. But he felt like this body didn’t want to be awake yet, so he just rolled over and put the sun to his back. And that’s when he realized that he… she had to pee. And his eyes went as wide as dinner plates. Well shit… this was getting weirder every minute, every relative minute. In fact, it was only when he stood that he bothered to pay attention to what she was wearing; she had on a purple hoodie that had silver lettering across the front which read:

‘I’m not a tsundere; I really don’t like you…’

What the hell is a tsundere, he wondered. Below that she had on a simple pair of black panties. Okay, wearing panties was kind of weird, but so far nothing too out of the ordinary; his quick trip to the bathroom not withstanding. As he had had his eyes closed as he went to sit down on the toilet, he actually nearly missed sitting on the toilet all together. Yep, sitting on the toilet to pee was gonna take some getting used to. 

This whole experience was making him very uncomfortable. Once that whole bathroom business was finished, he dug through the clothes which had conveniently been piled up just outside the bathroom door. After digging through the pile for a bit, and finding he had no sense for female fashion, he finally just grabbed a simple pair of short gold shorts with red lettering along the back which read:

‘Kiss me’ 

Hmm, really didn’t seem like Raven’s taste in clothes. Must have been a gift from Starfire, he felt. Whatever. Let’s just get this day over with, he thought; he was already starting to even think like her. At least he hoped he was. So he left her room and proceeded to the common room. Before he was even half way there, he could already hear the commotion of the others. Hearing it actually made him stop where he stood. He even felt a lone tear run down Raven’s cheek. He was… happy. He had forgotten how wonderful the tower felt having the entire team present. He had forgotten how happy they all used to be together; like a family. 

And it felt good to see it all again, even if it was just a haunting memory of how things were. Shaking off the feeling of nostalgia, he wiped the tear from Raven’s cheek, put on a stoic face, and lifted the hood over Raven’s head. Then he walked through the door of the common room. It felt like he had just wondered onto a stage during the middle of a performance. The lights were already set, the actors were going through their performances, and the audience was already warmed up. All that was seemingly missing was him.

“Booyah! I got you good!” Cyborg gloated. He was playing a video game with Beast Boy.

“Nah, brah! That’s cheatin’! You so underhanded you should be underground, yo!” Beast Boy replied.

“Dude! What does that even mean?! Oh, hey Rae Rae.” Cyborg said, looking over at him from the couch.

“Yo, mama! Lookin good! Woof woof! Lovin’ thems lovely, lovely legs!” Beast Boy cat called him, which felt really, really weird. He just shot Beast Boy a scowl like he figured Raven would do and blew past them. So, so weird. And yet comforting to see the pair of them as they were; as thick as thieves. Starfire sat at the kitchen table with Silkie in her lap, as she played with him.

“Who’s Mama’s little bumgorf! Who’s Mama’s adorable little bumgorf! That’s right! You are! You’re Mama’s precious little bumgorf! Okay, bath time!” She teased him, though Silkie seemed happy enough to go along with it.

“Morning Rae! Pancakes?” Robin asked him…self? This was going to take some getting used to. That was also the first time he’d actually fully viewed himself from another’s perspective, and it just felt so…weird!

“No thanks; just herbal tea.” He quipped. He actually liked pancakes, but something in Raven’s body seemed to steer him away from this and towards herbal tea. So he walked over to the counters to fetch the tea when he suddenly remembered he didn’t know where Raven stashed her tea making… things, or even how to make this tea in the first place! Panic gripped him!

“Whoa!” Robin… that is, the other Robin, suddenly cried as the flames under his griddle suddenly shot out and burned the pancakes he was cooking to a nice black crisp. Right, Raven’s Powers were driven by, and responded to, emotions. Just keep it together, he muttered under his breath. Just keep it together; just keep it together; just keep it together… In fact, he’d spent so much time trying to steel himself, he hadn’t realized he’d just been standing there, seemingly gazing out into nothing for the better part of ten minutes.

“Yo, Rae! You alright?” Cyborg asked him, bringing him back from Raven’s mind.

“Uh… the tea! Right! Now where…” he started before turning and looking at the cabinets before him. There were too many possibilities; he didn’t even know where to begin.

“Hey, Rae!” Cyborg called to him again. He turned to face him, and found that Cyborg had already found all the tea making materials, and had even laid them all out on the kitchen table.

“Ah! Of course! I… I knew that…” he said, trying to play off his ignorance. Damn, this was harder then he would have thought. Then he proceeded to stare at the materials, scratching his head as he realized he didn’t even know how to use any of it. He had seen Raven do this before, but he couldn’t remember how she’d done it, and he was quickly getting very, very, very FRUSTRATED!!!

BANG!!! Went the tea kettle, violently exploding where it sat in the middle of the table; all the other tea making materials went straight up and smashed along the ceiling before crashing back down to the table violently, spilling tea leaves everywhere. The event was so sudden and unexpected, that with a yelp, Starfire had dived under the table. The other Robin had a birdarang drawn; he seemed to be breathing a thousand miles an hour. Cyborg had his hands up in front of his face briefly before he slowly lowered them, giving him a weird stare which included Cyborg raising his lone human eyebrow at him. He was at a loss for words.

“Wha… uh; that is… uh… well?” He said before he noticed the walls behind them all starting to fade into darkness. Well shit, he thought. Gotta think like her; gotta act like her…  
“Whatever…” he said, while putting on a stoic face, even though he could feel he was blushing beet red. Slowly, he turned back towards the berthing hall, and walked away stiffly and awkwardly. Even as he went, he could feel the eyes of the others boring holes into the back of Raven’s skull.

“Okey…” Cyborg said, confused and probably scratching his head.

“Uh, what just happened?!” He could hear the other Robin ask.

“Dude! What the hey hey, Rae Rae!” Beast Boy called after him. But at least the walls had returned to normal. Yep, this mission was probably going to be the death of him after all.


	17. Chapter 17

It had been weeks since he had assumed Raven’s guise, even if it was only through the echo of memories. And over the course of that time, he had learned that Raven’s body already seemed to instinctively know what to do at any given moment. The trick, he’d found, was to listen to her body’s instincts and try not to interrupt them. It involved concentrating on pulling his own mind and thoughts back to the background, and letting Raven do as she had done in the past; all he had to do was watch, wait, and learn. He had even trained his mind to think of himself in the feminine pronoun. He felt it only appropriate, given the circumstances. But more importantly, remembering that he was in a feminine form helped him react appropriately as needed. 

And so it was that weeks had passed, but nothing significant had happened; certainly nothing which would indicate what Lust and the other deadly sins were planning. Robin, as Raven, had settled into what at one time was the normal, jovial atmosphere within the walls of the tower. The Titans has just defeated Cinderblock earlier in the day. Well, Raven had, anyway. As the chaos of battle ensued and the battle started moving into more populated parts of the city, she made use of more of her powers then she had done in a long time. Reaching out with her magic, she fully lifted two entire abandoned apartment buildings from their foundations, and caught Cinderblock between them with enough force to collapse additional buildings nearby. 

The team cheered and cheered for Raven, following her victory. Their emotional outpourings of support, and even acceptance had effected Raven so much that she actually found it difficult to maintain her stoic attitude, their genuine joy being so damned infectious. Following the battle, they rushed back to the tower with at least a dozen boxes of pizza and dived into a Mario Party marathon. Raven chose to play as Princess Daisy. Of course Starfire had chosen Peach, while Robin chose Mario and Cyborg went with Donkey Kong. The worst player at the end of each match had to surrender their controller to the inactive Titan, meaning that when Beast Boy got into the game, he chose to play as Yoshi. Raven had never been this involved with the others before, but it all just felt so right; she just felt so good! 

They played well into the AM before the other Titans slowly started wondering off to the berthing hall to finally sleep. Raven didn’t actually sleep herself, instead using this time to refocus her mind and thoughts, as well as to replenish her energy. When she did so, she entered a trance, or she would escape into her mind. This meant that she never dreamed, and often found herself wondering what the experience of dreaming would be like. So she entered a trance like state as she lay down for the night. 

And before long, she found herself sitting on a bench at the Jump City park. The park was crowded as people barbecued, enjoyed picnics with family, played sports and other such typically mundane things. So Raven just sat there, basking in the feelings of contentment and happiness which permeated the air around her. And as she closed her eyes and leaned back in the bench to bask in the warm afternoon sun, she heard a voice in her head.

“Ravennnn…” it seemed to taunt her. She thought she was hearing things, so she tried to put the voice out of her mind. But it called to her again, this time with enough force that it actually hurt her head, causing her to wince.

RAVENNNN!” It echoed in her head. And that’s when she began to hear the screams. She opened her eyes, and all around her was bodies and blood. 

Some of the people in the crowd were seething with so much rage that they began violently killing others. Other people rushed around the dead and mutilated bodies, greedily picking their remains of any valuables which they had possessed. Some attacked the various food items which were then left unattended, frantically gnawing at it with all the frenzied desperation of an insatiable, gluttonous hunger. And even with all the blood and violence which pervaded this place, large groups of people joined together in a large series of massive, graphic orgies. 

Grunts, shrieks and moans of both pleasure and pain filled the air and joined with the screams of those who were being violently murdered. Then there were the ones who lacked the strength or conviction to join in with all the sex and violence. So they circled the horrific scenes, envious of those who had become involved. But worse of all were the ones who did nothing. They just lay there in the blood and viscera, just watching everything which was happening around them, apparently being too lazy to join in themselves.

Raven awoke so violently that she found herself on the floor next to her bed. What the hell had she just seen?! Was that a dream? If it was, she decided she didn’t like dreams very much anymore. Though deep down she knew it wasn’t a dream; she was incapable of having them after all. She knew perfectly well what it was; it was a vision, a warning of things yet to pass. And Raven felt her heart sink. She found herself becoming too afraid to face this possibility, so instead she chose to ignore it altogether. That is until the same vision came to her again the following night. And again on the following night; again and again until she began to gradually feel the effects of her lack of rest. 

She was starting to lose her focus. Then she suddenly found that ever little nuance of being around her friends was starting to bother her. She was starting to find that she could no longer tolerate being around them for too long as she was becoming far too irritable and began lashing out at them for no real reason. And she found that her negative emotions was starting to rub off on the others as well. Cyborg and Beast Boy started to argue more and more frequently and started noticeably growing apart. Starfire gradually began to lose her exuberant joy and she began to nag the others about little things. 

And then there was Robin; the one Titan she felt she could trust more than any other. She needed someone to confide in badly, and she trusted only him enough to do so, but she found that she was actually pushing him away. He seemed to be spiraling down into isolation and paranoia. He claimed he was working on a highly sensitive new case, but she knew that was only a small part of his recent shift in behavior. No, she was on her own, and it was all her fault. She needed to fix this, and fast.

So she began researching, going through virtually her entire collection of books and ancient scrolls. But the most she was able to garner from these sources was frequent references to the seven deadly sins. But that was where she hit a wall. She knew, of course, that there were other magically inclined individuals she could reach out to for answers, but she trusted none of them enough to do so. So she meditated more and more on the seven deadly sins, but still she couldn’t pierce the wall she had run up against, and it was starting to drive her crazy. It didn’t help that the vision still haunted her every time she tried to rest. Worse then that, it seemed to grow longer and more graphic the more often she saw it. 

The whole ordeal left her desperate enough to try things she hadn’t tried in a while to breach the wall. But that meant visiting… her of all people. Luckily it was Friday night, and she knew just where her ever elusive friend would be. Quickly, she dug around in her closet until she found just the clothes for the occasion; a black tube top with matching high rise leather shorts. And to round out the look, a pair of gothic style high heels. And over the top of this she wore a thin, nearly transparent purple jacket, with the hood drawn up over her head. She gave herself a quick once over in the mirror, spinning about for good measure. She felt kinda strange in the outfit, as she seldom wore ‘normal’ clothes, but she knew that her special friend would love it. 

Finally dressed, she teleported herself from the tower, obviously not wanting the others to see her or ask questions. She landed in the alley behind her destination, and she actually hunched over from the effort, breathing heavily all the while. Without rest, using her magic was taking an increasing toll on her. Well, all the more reason to get her help and end this, she reasoned with herself as if seeking her own approval. Having finally caught her breath, she walked around to the front of the building, which was covered in pink neon lightning, emphasizing the name of the establishment: Persephone’s Purse.

Walking through the front door was an assault on her senses, but it was also a welcome distraction. The dance floor was alive with a crowd already dancing and shaking frantically. The whole place was dark, but the glow sticks were out and the whole place just felt so alive, with Raven running her hands along the cold metal rails by the entrance as if she were attempting put her nubile fingers on the very pulse of this place. The bass of the music hit Raven hard in her chest and caused her entire body to vibrate, but she love it. Plus the we’re playing one of her favorite songs at that moment; ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ by ‘The Prodigy’. It was an old song, but a good one; God how she missed this.

“Yo Mama; lookin good tonight! Me-ow!” Someone cat called her from the crowd. Raven grimaced.

“Don’t call me that, Jinx; you know how I hate it!” She scolded. But Jinx smiled coyly at her as she walked over.

“Why not, isn’t that what the little goblin calls you?” Jinx teased, as Raven pulled back from her. “Aw, come on; don’t be like that Rae. You know you missed me too, baby.” Jinx hissed into Raven’s ear as she licked her lobe and pulled the Titan in close, running her hands up and down Raven’s body. Raven could feel a strong tension winding her up and working its way down her body as she felt herself growing hot. 

Pulling Jinx down to her, she pulled the taller girl’s lips down to hers and practically inhaled the girl, tongues wrestling and moving back and forth as Jinx gave her what she wanted. Suddenly breaking the kiss, Raven leaned her head back as she opened her mouth, letting the LSD dissolve in her mouth as she played around with the blotter with her tongue. She intended to go down the rabbit hole tonight, though the night was still young. 

Before she knew what was happening, she found herself on the dance floor, hand and hand with Jinx. With all the flickering lights and glow sticks Raven felt as though she was seeing a long series of still pictures rapidly moving before her eyes, of which Raven only caught little glimpses and snapshots. There were images of Jinx grinding and twerking on her, of Jinx pulling her in close and clawing at her back as their lips came together again tongues darting wildly between them. Then Raven began to feel… something. Something strange, and altogether apart from what she was expecting to feel from the drugs. It was something altogether foreign, or rather foreign feeling; almost like some unknown, outside force was reaching out to her. And she began to feel her body respond. 

Her heart began fluttering and she felt as through there was an entire hornets nest buzzing within her lower abdomen. The air grew thick, and she felt a warm, almost electrifying pulse run through her whenever she touched Jinx’s body. Something magnetic even, as she suddenly felt more drawn to Jinx then she could ever remember being in their past encounters. The next thing she knew, she was all over Jinx, all over her neck, leaving several deep red hickeys as she went, pulling Jinx in so close like she was trying to make them one, as a primal force pumped through her veins. 

Then, before she even knew what she was doing, she found herself dragging a giddy and excited Jinx along with her to the ladies room. There were snapshots in Raven’s head of stumbling into the restroom and bursting into a bathroom stall. Next came the view of herself pushing Jinx back against the wall, a look of surprise but excitement evident on her face as she peered down at Raven. Whatever was in the air, Jinx was starting to feel it too, in the heat of the moment. 

Soon they were inhaling each other with kisses sooo deep and violent that soon blood was flowing between them. And yet they kept going, the blood almost acting like an aphrodisiac as their senses became all the more heightened in the anticipation. They began frantically clawing at each other, nails being dragged harshly against raw, naked flesh and drawing more blood between them. And the deeper they went, the more animalistic they became. Soon She was biting her way up Jinx’s legs, coos and grunts echoing through her ears as she bit down with great savagery, leaving teeth marks as she went. And yet Jinx was clawing frantically at her back, edging her on as their bodies sailed ever higher. 

By that point, Raven could even smell the raw sexual energy hovering in the air around them. And yet something within her egged her on even further, though her hazy mind was still struggling with just what it was feeling; all she knew was that she wanted more, needed more. Some primal part of her desired to eat Jinx alive, right then and there. Not able to shake off these intense urges, she literally ripped Jinx’s thong from her body with her teeth, and immediately went for her heated sex. Immediately Jinx let out a satisfied cry, followed by a sharp intake of breath as she arched her back, resting her weight on Raven’s shoulders. 

And Raven was unrelenting, as she devoured all that Jinx had to offer her and more. Before long, Jinx screamed a most earth shattering scream as her whole body shook, waves of pleasure writhing through her body. And as Jinx suddenly struggled to separate herself from Raven, her sex quickly becoming sensitive to the touch, Raven felt her frustration grow all the more intense as she still hadn’t gotten what she wanted.

‘Yesssss, sister. Let me in. Feel my power over your body grow. You know you want this. Take it. Take it all, and more’ a voice suddenly echoed through the deepest part of her mind. And just as the voice subsided into her subconscious, an intense wave of passion flooded through her, and she suddenly realized just what it was that was influencing her; it was LUST!!!


End file.
